LUMBERTON, NC (WBTW) – The Robeson County School Board held its first meeting of the year Tuesday night, but this meeting was special.
One student from Fairgrove Middle School was honored and named a hero because he saved the lives of 50 students on his bus after the school bus driver fell out of her chair unconscious back in December.
His name is Cory Lewis, and he was riding the bus home from school when a car ran into the back of the school bus.
“We were going across the stop sign, and we got halfway when a car hit us. I noticed the bus driver wasn’t in her seat, I got up from off the ground, I went up here and I hit the brake,” said Lewis.
Cory says he reacted on instinct when he saw the bus was headed towards a ditch and pine trees on the side of the road, but that he couldn’t have done it without some training from one special person.
Lisa Locklear is Cory’s mom, and she’s been a bus driver for more than twenty years. She says each morning her son helps her with all of her security checks, but she never thought that training would come in handy until now.
“It makes me feel good within myself that all that I’ve taught him is not in vain,” said Locklear.
His mom says that bus wasn’t Cory’s usual ride home, and she knows why he was there that day.
“I just feel in my heart that God put him on that bus for a reason,” said Locklear.
The 14-year-old says it was all instinct, but his actions have given him a new name.
“Cory is my little hero. He is my little hero,” said Locklear.
School officials say the driver of the car and the bus driver are both okay, and thanks to Cory, no students were injured.
