Teacher receives Carnegie Medal

The educator was at a loss for words about the honor.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Linda Robb insists she's not a hero. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission thinks otherwise.
Robb, a sixth-grade teacher at McKinley Elementary, is one of 23 people from across the United States and Canada chosen by the Pittsburgh-based commission to receive a Carnegie Medal and a $3,500 grant.
Nominated for the award by kindergarten teacher Jane Ramsey, Robb, in her 19th year as an educator, said she couldn't believe there aren't far more people deserving.
"I'm delighted," she said. "Mr. Carnegie was such a great humanitarian. It feels good and it's a wonderful honor, but I don't think I'm a hero."
After learning one of the other Carnegie Medal recipients is a 12-year-old Georgia girl who pulled her grandfather out of bed and out of a burning mobile home, Robb said, "Now you see, she's a hero."
Above and beyond: The Carnegie Medal is given to individuals "who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others."
Robb, 51, talked a pupil in first-year teacher Dan Kemats' sixth-grade class into leaving the classroom last March 23 and surrendering a loaded 9mm handgun to her.
The boy had pulled the gun as class activities were beginning for the day and ordered Kemats and about 20 pupils to the floor.
A pupil in the hall alerted Robb and when she went to Kemats' door, she recognized the boy as one she had previously taught. She asked the boy if the gun was real. He popped the ammunition clip out of the gun and shoved it back in, as if to prove the gun was no toy.
Robb coaxed him into the hall to talk, then hugged him and asked him for the gun.
Not jaded: She later described the boy as a troubled, but good-hearted pupil who craved attention.
Robb and Kemats were the subject of national attention for several days afterward. Robb said she was somewhat embarrassed by the praise lavished on her from across the United States.
Pittsburgh humanitarian and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie established the commission April 15, 1904, after the Harwick mine disaster near Pittsburgh in January.
Among the victims of the mine collapse which claimed 181 lives were an engineer and a miner who went into the mine in an attempt to rescue the others.
Carnegie did not believe such heroes or their families should suffer financially if they were injured or killed performing heroic acts.
The commission has recognized nearly 8,500 heroes and awarded $24.7 million since Carnegie established the fund with $5 million. People from 12 states and four Canadian provinces were honored Thursday.
"I do not expect to stimulate or create heroism by this fund," Carnegie wrote, "knowing well that heroic action is impulsive."
"That's exactly right," Robb said, noting her reaction was instinctive and maternal.
"You just never know what each day will bring," she said.