Fla. Driver Honored for Saving Student Choking While on School Bus

A school bus driver for Levy County (Fla.) School District was recognized for her quick response in saving a student who was choking while on her bus last month.

Tanya Rivenburg was driving her regular morning route on Oct. 22 when she heard a student from the back of her bus yell that another student was choking, Gary Masters, Levy County School District’s transportation director, told the district’s board during its meeting on Oct. 27 (his remarks begin at 9:20). The student was apparently choking on a piece of candy, according to a post on Levy County School District’s Facebook page.

Rivenburg told WCJB that the 7-year-old student was not breathing and was blue when she saw him. She added that after several failed attempts to get him breathing, she was able to perform CPR before emergency personnel arrived to the scene. She also said that saving a student’s life was something she never thought she would have to do in her four years of bus driving.

During the board meeting, Masters presented Rivenburg with the Levy Impact Award. He also thanked her for her quick response in securing the bus and keeping students safe.

“What I did that day is nothing any of our other drivers wouldn’t do,” Rivenburg told the board. “We’ve all had excellent training; we’re like a family out there… I love my kids, each and every one of them.”

As for the student who she saved, Rivenburg told WCJB that he is “happy and healthy and back to riding the school bus again.”

View a statement from Levy Couty School District, posted on the district's Facebook page, below.