West Geauga Student to Receive Hero Award
The heroic actions of a 17-year-old West Geauga High School student are being recognized by The Uvalde Foundation for Kids, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to ending school violence.
The heroic actions of a 17-year-old West Geauga High School student are being recognized by The Uvalde Foundation for Kids, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to ending school violence.
Senior Casey Orloski will be the first in Ohio to be recognized with the foundation’s National Student Hero Award for his alert and quick action in averting a possible school shooting, according to an April 6 press release.
His discovery of a bullet in a bathroom stall on the morning of April 3 led to the arrest of 18-year-old Brandon Michael Morrissette, who brought a handgun to school with plans to shoot multiple students.
The foundation — which started after 19 children and two adults were killed in a May 24, 2022, shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas — said the school’s “calm systematic, compassionate and organized approach to addressing the potential threat” is what schools across the nation should follow.
“This student who helped extinguish a possible threat to fellow students, represents the reality of how the climate of violence plaguing our nations’ schools and threatening student lives can come to an end — Not through gun control or more safety planning meetings; but rather through alert, caring students such as this who refuse to stand by when a potential threat exists,” said Daniel Chapin, founder of the Uvalde Foundation For Kids, in a statement.
Casey joins a list of other heroes against violence in schools this year awarded by the foundation, including the Nashville hero police officers who responded to the Covenant school shooting and a Virginia school teacher who led students to safety after being shot by another student.
Casey’s mother, April Orloski, expressed support for her son receiving the recognition.
“Our main point that we would like to share is awareness of your surroundings and even if something so small seems out of place to please say something,” said Orloski, who has been critical of the school’s handling of the crisis, particularly, officials sending her son back to the classroom after he alerted them about the bullet.
“Moving forward, I want to make sure that no other student is placed in the potential danger that my child was by being sent back to the classroom after finding that bullet,” she said. “The potential shooter was in his class and sitting right next to him. I want to spread awareness about protecting a student in that situation to not make them a target.”
