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High school students help teacher during life-threatening emergency

<i>WSMV</i><br/>High school students (L-R) Drew Osteen
WSMV
WSMV
High school students (L-R) Drew Osteen

By Justina Latimer

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    FRANKLIN, Tennessee (WSMV) — A group of Williamson County students is being honored after helping a teacher through a life-threatening emergency at Centennial High School.

“This all happened in a matter of seconds, but it felt like hours,” said Immanuel Barr, JROTC Student.

The students presented to a group of freshmen on the first day of school just moments before it all happened.

“I was talking to the freshman to let them know what JROTC is all about. I was joking with them and being extra to get them to like it, and I heard my instructor behind me say something,” explained Student Ellen Grayson.

But when she turned around, the instructor was having a seizure. Her classmate Barr was standing close by and ended up catching him before laying him down.

“It felt surreal. To see our instructor’s eyes roll back and foam at the mouth. It changed me,” Barr stated.

But the story didn’t end there. Grayson and Drew Osteen ran down the hall to get help.

“I just remember pointing and going, alright, everyone, to the main gym lobby. Go, go, go! I noticed that Spencer King was the only one still on the phone calling 9-1-1. So I told him to stay right here and don’t hang up until you are told to. If it wasn’t for him calling and staying on the line, it could have been a different story,” explained Osteen.

Today the teacher is doing okay. But as the students look back, they say they couldn’t have done it without each other.

“It made me grip on to life more closely. You don’t know when your next moment is,” Barr said.

The students will be honored Friday at the high school’s home football game.

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