“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” Heroes Among Us “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” Matthew 5: Verse 6

Since the dawn of civilization, heroes have stepped forward to stand in the gap of danger, injustice, persecution, and to protect the young and the weak from predators and those who would do them harm.

We have ample examples of heroes in our modern day and time, who while not seeking fame or recognition, step up when a situation occurs where the young and weaker of us are in peril.

Dr. Liviu Librescu blocked the door of his classroom in Norris Hall at Virginia Tech on the morning of April 16, 2007 so that his students could escape through the windows as a shooter was trying to enter the room.

Dr. Librescu paid for this heroism with the ultimate sacrifice by loosing his life that day, protecting the students who were in his care.

When the first sounds of gunshots echoed through the halls of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT on Friday morning, December 14, 2012, Principal Dawn Hochsprung left the safety of her office and took off running toward the shooter, who had forcibly entered through the front doors.

School therapist Diane Day, who was with her when they heard a “pop, pop, pop” in the hallway, said Dawn didn’t spare a moment before running out to investigate the noise. “She didn't think twice about confronting or seeing what was going on!"

Dawn Hochsprung as well as five (5) other staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School paid the ultimate hero’s sacrifice by giving their lives that December morning, protecting “their” kids!

Rick Rescorla, as Director of Security for the financial services firm Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Center, passionately drilled emergency preparedness into the culture of that organization, prior to September 11, 2001.

It is said that Rescorla, when holding an evacuation drill, would even interrupt Chairman of the Board meetings and important deals being brokered by Morgan Stanley top officials, to make everyone in their “Tower’s” offices participate in the drill.

When the attack occurred on the morning of September 11th, Rescorla and his emergency operations staff knew exactly what had to be done.

When a Port Authority announcement came over the P. A When a Port Authority announcement came over the P.A. system urging people to stay at their desks, Rescorla ignored the announcement, grabbed his bullhorn, walkie-talkie, and cell phone, and began systematically ordering Morgan Stanley employees to evacuate, including the 1,000 employees in WTC 5.

Morgan Stanley executive Bill McMahon stated that even a group of 250 people visiting the offices for a stockbroker training class knew what to do because they had been shown the nearest stairway, due to Rescorla’s routine emergency preparedness training for not only staff, but also visitors.

After successfully evacuating almost all of Morgan Stanley's 2,687 employees, Rescorla went back into the building to find and evacuate the few remaining employees.

Rick Rescorla was last seen on the 10th floor, heading upward, shortly before the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 A.M. His remains were never found.

While all of the previous examples are of people who made the ultimate sacrifice “standing in the gap” to protect others, we have countless other examples of heroes, who in the midst of leading otherwise “ordinary” lives, lean forward to “stand in the gap” every day, to protect the weak; the young; and the vulnerable.

The “Heroes Among Us” award is about honoring these individuals, still living, who have recognized the need, and demonstrated a continued commitment to “stand in the gap” to promote safety in our schools over an extended period of time. While this is our 10th annual school safety conference, this is the first of what hopefully will be an ongoing annual award.

“Heroes Among Us” 2016 Education Safety Award