NEWS RELEASE
March 7, 2014
5 Charlotte County students were honored on Thursday March 6th for doing the right thing. The students from Port Charlotte High and Charlotte High were recognized for their good deeds.
Rylee Garand, an eleventh grader at Charlotte High school was nominated for assisting a friend at an accident. The person nominating Rylee had this to say. “I got into an accident in Punta Gorda a few weeks ago. I am only 16 and it was a pretty bad accident and I got injured and my car was totaled. Rylee Garand is my neighbor, friend and she was only one car ahead of me. She witnessed the accident and pulled over right away and ran over to help. I was in a state of shock and panic and I could barely move, as I fainted she was right behind me to catch me and to carry me over to the side walk and tell the officers all my information as I was unable to speak. She then proceeded to call my parents and tell them everything that happened. The whole time she was there to calm me down to help me through everything that had happened until my parents and authorities got there. I feel she helped me so much, to insure I was safe, as I so upset and going into a panic attack or possibly a seizure. So with this being said I feel Rylee Garand should receive “The Doing The Right Thing Award”.
Charlotte High School students Catherine Dominguez (grade 9), Kayla Ehster (grade 12), and Rebecca Rodriguez (grade 12) we recognized for helping their teacher break up a disturbance. Shortly after the start of the New Year, one of the Charlotte High students became upset with something she felt another student was saying about her. Instead of merely confronting the other student to discuss concerns, the young lady entered a classroom where the student was and began to hit her. The student was followed by some of her friends who were there to watch the action. The teacher in charge immediately went toward the two girls in an attempt to break up the situation. Seeing that their teacher had her hands full, these three young ladies stepped in to help their classmate and their teacher. The teacher had this to say in nominating the trio: These girls were instrumental in helping break up and de-escalate a physical altercation in my classroom. Each of them exhibited great courage and concern for their fellow students by intervening.
The Over-all winner for this month is Quade Savinsky from Port Charlotte High. This young man was on the bus with the Votec students traveling back to southwest Florida from a conference when they were hit head on by another vehicle.
The person nominating Quade wrote I saw the car coming right for us….then we were hit….hard…immediately we started to try and open the emergency windows, but not all of them would open. Quade managed to get his window open and jumped out. Some of the windows were open in the back, but the kids became panicked and were hesitant to jump out. Another student from our school was attempting to get the door to the bus open, but it was severely damaged not to mention the bus had been on fire which caused the cabin to fill with smoke and screams. As mentioned, Quade was one of the first to escape the bus. He ran to the door and opened by prying it with his own hands and then kicking it. Once he managed to assist all of the students off the damaged bus, Quade went to the other vehicle to provide assistance. Quade, although injured himself, he provided emotional and first aid assistance to all of the injured passengers. He then went to the hospital for his injuries. When he was released, he went from patient to patient checking to make certain that they were all right.
We always like to hear about all of the wonderful things our youth are doing in our communities. If you know of a youth in Charlotte County doing good deeds please nominate them for a Do the Right Thing award at www.puntagordapolice.com or call the Executive Director of Do the Right Thing of Charlotte County, Corporal Tony Pribble at 941-639-4111.
Prepared by:
Tony Pribble
Executive Director – Do the Right Thing of Charlotte County
Punta Gorda Police Department
(941) 639-4111
apribble@pgorda.us