heroism award

Submitted photo and information from Student Transportation of America:

ALEXANDER -- Bus driver Vikki Boyce Czechowicz, who works for Alexander-based Student Transportation of America, received the Heroism Award recently from the NYS Education Department.

She is at left in the photo above with her manager Tonya Phillips.

The Herosim Award is one of several honors Czechowicz has received since rescuing 17 children from a school bus that became engulfed in flames after its engine caught fire May 28 in Sheldon, Wyoming County.

According to the bus company, which provides transportation for Genesee County schools, Czechowicz, who lives in Wyoming County, was proceeding through her morning route for the Attica Central School District on Maxon Road in Sheldon when she noticed smoke coming from under her dash.

She radioed dispatch that she was evacuating the 17 students (K-12) who were on the bus. She was on her way to pick up two more students when the mishap occurred.

After the children had exited the bus, which she attributed to their prepardedness and ability to listen and obey instructions, Czechowicz went back inside to check for sleeping students. As she came to the front of the bus, she saw the flames coming from the engine area and within minutes the school bus was fully engulfed in flames and the front tires exploded. No one was injured.

“It was due to this driver’s quick thinking and school bus safety training that all the students were safely evacuated,” said Paul Overbaugh, director of Pupil Transportation, NYS Education Department.