SAUK VILLAGE | One Strassburg Elementary School student has been nationally recognized for saving another student's life.

It isn't every day you see a young hero in action, said Strassburg fifth-grade teacher Jenny Lewandowski-Banach.

In October, Lewandowski-Banach was monitoring the safety patrol after school.

Fifth-grader Hunter Turner, then 10, was assigned to the patrol, helping make sure other children left school safely.

Lewandowski-Banach said she saw Turner put his arm out and stop a fourth-grader from walking into the path of a sport utility vehicle.

"My little Hunter just put his arm out, scooped the boy up and put him back on the sidewalk," Lewandowski-Banach said. "He saved that child's life. He just did it perfectly. He was very modest about it. The child is amazing."

Lewandowski-Banach nominated Turner for insurance company AAA's School Safety Patrol Award. Each year, she said, only a handful of students nationwide are selected. This year, Hunter was one of five students to receive the honor.

Turner and his parents were given an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., May 18-20, where Turner attended an awards ceremony, received a medal and had a flag flown over the Capitol in his honor.

Turner, now 11, recalled the events of the day.

"I was at my post and (the other child) wasn't paying attention because he was talking to his friends," Turner said, adding he noticed the boy was about to walk into the street and he put his arm out to stop him.

"I didn't know him at all," Turner said, adding that he reacted because that was his job.

Although he got to explore the nation's capital, Turner said his favorite part of the trip was swimming in the hotel pool. He said the trip also gave him a chance to spend quality time with his parents.

"They were just happy because they finally got an actual vacation," said Turner, who has nine siblings.

Turner's mom, Rebecca Turner, said the trip was a great experience.

"(Hunter) had never been there and I had never been there. It was awesome," she said. "I was like, 'Wow, I must be doing something right.' I was so proud of him.

Steven Turner, Hunter's dad, said he's glad his son stepped in to help another child.

"It goes with what we teach them. We go to church, it goes with what they teach at church," Steven Hunter said, adding that he's been to Washington, D.C. before, but is thankful that his son and wife could experience it.

"We kept telling Hunter to pay attention because you have gone somewhere even most adults haven't been in America," he said. "He knows he did the right thing. We kept telling him, when you do the right thing, you are supposed to get recognized."