A potential tragedy was avoided last Wednesday, Nov. 30, when school bus driver Kelly Gripentrog managed to steer a bus full of elementary schoolchildren away from a lake and into a tree before losing consciousness. Gripentrog, a bus driver for the Wright City R-II School District, was able to gently maneuver the bus off the road and stop it against a tree. There were no injuries. "I did it on reflex," he said. "I knew something was going wrong." There were 12 students on the bus, nine of whom went home with their parents. The other three went with a counselor on another bus. Gripentrog is undergoing testing for seizures at St. Joseph Hospital West in Lake Saint Louis, but said all results have been negative. The accident occurred around 3 p.m. on Fairway Drive in Incline Village, a gated community northeast of Wright City. Gripentrog said he was driving over a hill when he began to lose consciousness. "The next thing I knew, I was slumped over the wheel," he said. Joe Moran witnessed the accident. "I was leaving the neighborhood and the bus was entering the neighborhood and it was moving very slowly, so I passed by it, looked in my rearview mirror and it went off the road and hit a tree," he said. "The rear end of the bus was in the air, so I opened the emergency exit on the bus and tried to calm all the kids down and tell them everything was okay." Moran said Gripentrog was unresponsive when he entered the bus. Off-duty firefighters and parents were in the area and attended to the children on the bus. "Just for one reason or another, they happened to be there," Gripentrog said. "There was no time in between the (accident and) response," he added. "That's a miracle. You don't get that kind of response. From my point, that's a miracle that the firefighters were there. That's way past awesome." Moran agreed. "I don't think it was anything short of a miracle," he said. "If the bus had gone down the road any farther, it could have been a bad deal for those little kids. What we do is possible and then God does the impossible." School district officials contacted parents of the children on the bus later in the evening and reported all students on the bus were at school the following day. Students met with school counselors and nurses to verify there were no issues or injuries. "There were some kids who were upset and in tears," R-II Assistant Superintendent David Buck said. "One of my concerns was what if the kids say they aren't hurt, but they really are. That's why we checked again later that night and the next morning. "It couldn't have gone better in managing the situation," he added. "(The responders) all did a fantastic job." Employees at Incline Village Golf Course provided snacks and drinks to students in the golf course's clubhouse until the students' parents arrived. Gripentrog commended the children on the school bus for following proper emergency procedures. "I've got the same kids and the same routes," he said. "They did a good job of not panicking. I know they were scared, but I was proud of the way they did in an emergency, the way I told them to do." Gripentrog said he is eager to get back to driving, but will have to wait for further medical test results. He knows having complications with seizures will prohibit him from ever driving a school bus again. "I just really hope (the medical staff) can give me something definitive so I can go back and drive because if I can't, I'll be miserable," he said. "I would love to get back, but not at the risk of the kids." Gripentrog's actions have garnered him the title of hero among parents and officials in the school district. "I don't know - hero seems strong, but it's a wonderful thing for people to think," he said. "I'm grateful that they saw it like that. It's awesome. "It was an event that was terribly dramatic so personally, I'm astonished at how much people love me out there," Gripentrog added. Wright City East Elementary Principal Michele Reigh said she was hopeful that Gripentrog will be able to return to the school soon. "We love Kelly," she said. "We want to bring him to school and have a little coffee or something for him."