Middle school student honored for bravery

By Peggy McEwan, The Gazzette

When sixth-grader Bryant Pham walked into the main office at Cabin John Middle School in Potomac on Oct. 2, he had a slightly baffled, slightly worried look on his face.

Cabin John Middle School sixth-grader Bryant Pham (right) was surprised with a safety patrol award Wednesday for his leadership in helping fellow students to safety when he was a student at Stone Mill Elementary School in North Potomac during last June’s derecho. On hand to present the award was Stone Mill principal Kim Williams (front, left) and Stone Mill safety patrol sponsor Julie Lynch (left). Looking on is Bryant’s father, Loc Pham. Photo by Greg Dohler/The Gazette

He did not know that the small group of adults including his father, Loc Pham; Montgomery County Police Officer Terese Guilday; Kim Williams, principal of Stone Mill Elementary School, North Potomac; and a few others were there to honor him for his bravery as a patrol at Stone Mill last June.

“The weather was terrible, and we dismissed a bunch of children. They got on the school bus, and the driver didn’t leave,” Williams said. “It was getting worse, I was losing trees, and I got on the bus and decided we should take the children back inside the school.”

Williams said Bryant, who was a School Safety Patrol officer at the time, was the patrol on the bus. She told him he would have to lead the students into the school, and she would bring up the rear.

“He talked to the children and told them they would have to follow him, and he led all the students to safety,” she said.

For that act of responsibility and cool headedness, Guilday presented 11-year-old Bryant, with the Outstanding Safety Patrol Medal of Valor Award and certificate.

Read the full story by Peggy McEwan from the Gazzette.