Okaloosa Superintendent of Schools Marcus Chambers visited Pryor Middle School last week to honor a sixth grader who jumped into a pool to rescue a student who could not swim after falling into the deep end near the Boys and Girls Club late last year.
- Aiden Trigo, 12, was near the apartment complex pool adjacent to the Boys and Girls Club when another student fell into the deep end. Trigo saw the student struggling underwater and realized the boy could not swim.
“I dropped all my stuff, I jumped in the pool and pulled him up, and then I got him out the water,” Trigo said.
Trigo said the decision to act was pure instinct.
- “It was just instinct and I didn’t know what to do at that time. So I just acted,” he said.
The incident occurred on Dec. 16, according to Pryor Middle School Principal Jason McClelland, who said the school didn’t receive the full details until after Christmas break. The Boys and Girls Club director confirmed the account, and the club gave Trigo an award for his actions.
By the time other students had run to the Boys and Girls Club to get help, Trigo had already pulled the boy from the pool. The student who was rescued was checked on and confirmed to be okay.
During a classroom visit, Chambers presented Trigo with a personal superintendent’s coin and a certificate in front of his classmates.
- “A student falls into the pool, does not know how to swim, and it’s December, and Aiden over here jumps straight into the pool, pulls the other student out and saves his life,” Chambers told the class. “This young man is an example of someone who wants to help others.”
McClelland told students that Trigo’s willingness to act was remarkable for anyone, let alone a middle schooler.
“Let alone a young man to jump in the pool like that — it’s hard to do for an adult as well,” McClelland said. “You took action, you moved and you saved a life.”
McClelland described Trigo as humble and soft-spoken, noting that if others hadn’t shared the story, the school may never have known what happened.
“He’s not one that’s going to boast and say, ‘Yes, I’m the one that did this,'” McClelland said. “He just did what he thought was right.”
When asked what he would say to encourage others to learn skills like swimming or first aid, Trigo kept it simple.
“You don’t know when it needs to be used and you could potentially save someone’s life,” he said.
