As a young teacher, BreAnna Sterling knows she has a lot to learn to lead her fifth-grade class at Rose Hill Elementary School in Commerce City.
"This is my second year teaching," Sterling said.
But, last week, she was faced with an ordeal that many veteran teachers have never had to solve.
"I just thought he was choking on water," Sterling said.
Fifth-grader Marcos Sterling came back from lunch with a purchased, disposable water bottle with a typical plastic bottle cap. Marcos was sitting with his friend Brian Alas.
"He put the cap in his mouth and he drank some water and he started choking," Brian said.
Marcos says when it happened, he just froze.
"The bottle cap fell in my throat," Marcos said. "I tried breathing through my nose, but I was scared."
That's when Sterling says Brian called for help for his friend.
"I walked over to look at Marcos and he was on his hands and knees," Sterling said. "I was really calm and it was just instinct and I just started doing the Heimlich and I guess it was just surprise when the bottle cap popped out because I wasn't expecting that at all."
Marcos was relieved.
"I was thinking that I might die," Marcos said.
Brian couldn't believe it.
"I was scared because he was my first friend since I got to the school," Brian said.
Sterling spends her days teaching kids about conflict and real-world solutions. So, she turned this traumatic experience into a learning one for the class.
"She told us to write about it and to see if he's okay," Brian said.
Each of his classmates wrote notes to Marcos, wishing him well and happy that he survived.
"They were nice notes," Marcos said.
He keeps all the notes in his backpack every day now right next to his football.
"I'm glad I'm still alive and not in a hospital," Marcos said.
Sterling learned as a young teacher, you never know when your students might need you the most.
"I think that's been the hardest part of it that, it could've ended up worse than it did," Sterling said.
