Wildwood Students Honored by Metro West for Assisting Fairway Student

Fairway first-grader Austin bounded down his school hallway on a recent Wednesday, grinning from ear to ear, jumping up and down and waving his orange-casted left arm at two visitors: Wildwood Middle seventh-graders Sreedhar and Tristan.

"I didn't think they'd remember me with my cast on," Austin said.

They certainly did. All three remember the events of the night of May 6, which brought them together again at Fairway. Sreedhar and Tristan provided emergency first aid to Austin after the younger student fell off a piece of playground equipment and broke him arm, accompanying and comforting him until his family and first responders arrived.

Sreedhar and Tristan were honored with certificates of recognition by Metro West Fire Protection District at Fairway on May 21 in front of family members and Fairway and Wildwood staff members, "for brave and selfless actions in offering comfort and care during a medical emergency."

All three students got the chance to take their turns in the driver's seat of one of Metro West's big, yellow fire trucks.

"Whenever I saw that his arm was clearly broken, I wasn’t scared. I just stayed calm and followed procedure," Tristan said. "It's just another day's work."

Another type of truck led Sreedhar and Tristan to Fairway on that night in early May. The two former Fairway Eagles were hanging out at Sreedhar's house when they heard an ice cream truck go by.

They tried to catch up with the truck but, as it passed the school, decided to go to the playground instead. That's when they first met Austin.

"A little while later, I heard him yell as he fell off," Tristan said. "I looked at his arm, and I could see it was bent.”

Austin was climbing on the teeter-totter when he fell. Sreedhar and Tristan rushed to him, and Tristan used his overcoat to make a sling.

"I had a friend who dislocated his wrist twice while riding his bike," Tristan said. "So I learned how to tie a shirt – or, really, anything – into a sling.”

Sreedhar ran to the door of the school and got the attention of lead custodian Donna Prost, who advised them to contact Austin's parents and 911.

"We were trying to comfort him," Sreedhar said. "He was pretty tough. He stopped crying, and he calmed down. We were really nervous because we didn’t know what to do.”

The Metro West representatives at the school presentation thanked the Wildwood students for their actions, remarked on how well they did under pressure and asked them to keep being such empathetic, conscientious citizens.

Austin had the opportunity to present his new friends with their certificates, and they both signed his cast. For his bravery that day, he also got the bonus reward of a fire engine photo-op.

"It's not my first time because I had been on a fire truck at my dad’s work," he said. "It's the only time I’ve been in a working fire truck. The one at my dad’s work was an old fire truck: the classic red design."

After going through this experience -- and after his older brother broke the same arm when he was in first grade -- Austin has some perspective and advice for fellow students.

"Don’t climb on the top of the teeter-totters," he said. "Or don’t try to jump over a baby gate on the stairs.”