LUMBERTON, N.C. — This week, a student here was named a hero for his actions on his school bus after the bus driver became incapacitated at the wheel during a collision in December.

Cory Lewis was honored with a plaque at the January Board of Education meeting for the Public Schools of Robeson County for saving the lives of 50 students aboard the bus after the impact of a collision caused the bus driver to become temporarily unresponsive, according to the school district.

On Dec. 15, Lewis, a 14-year-old student at Fairgrove Middle School, wasn’t scheduled to ride bus 53, but he wanted to take the bus straight home so he could get some work done after school. The bus was involved in an accident with a car, and Lewis noticed that the bus driver was not in her seat, WBTW reports. He saw that the bus was headed toward a ditch and trees, went to her seat and hit the brake, the news source reports.

Lewis said he knew what to do because his mother, Lisa Locklear, is a bus driver for Fairgrove Middle School, and had talked to him about bus safety. He had also watched her put the bus in park. Locklear told WBTW that her son helps her with security checks, but she hadn’t thought the training would come in handy. School officials told the news source that there were no injuries as a result of the incident thanks to Lewis.