JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD - Janice Batiste has been driving buses for Clover Park School District since 1988. She's seen and heard her fair share of adolescent pranks and jokes.

What started out as another joke Batiste overheard about 30 minutes into the ride home from Lakes High School in early January, quickly changed her life forever.

Nearing the first bus stop, on the corner of North 2nd Street on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Batiste noticed one of the 9th grade students standing in the aisle bent over.

"I could tell he was choking, so my first thought was to offer him some water," Batiste said. "Once he motioned to me that he couldn't drink anything, he ran off the bus. I knew I had to get everyone whose stop it was off the bus first so I could help him."

Batiste worked fast to get all the other students off the bus and went to where the student was knelt on his knees. She began performing the Heimlich maneuver on the student and was able clear the student's airway in a matter of seconds.

As it turns out, the student had choked on a very unlikely object - the plastic ring that's often found below the cap of a plastic mineral water bottle. He had been chewing on it before his friend made him laugh and it got lodged in his throat which caused him to begin choking.

"I'm just glad that I remembered my training and I could help," Batiste said. "I have never experienced anything like that before."

Once the student returned to the bus, Batiste made him pinky swear he'd never do that again.

"He's a good kid; he sits right behind me in the first row," she said. "I just wanted to make him smile, because I could tell he was still a little shaken up."

According to the director of transportation Paul Vigil, all Clover Park bus drivers are CPR, first-aid and automated external defibrillator certified every two years.

"We make sure that we cover a host of things in training that may occur during the bus rides or that our bus riders may be facing," Vigil said. "All of our drivers also go through in-house training for using EpiPens and dealing with diabetes. I think Janice's experience on the bus highlights the fact that our drivers are highly-trained, and they are prepared when they need to be."

On any given day, Batiste can host up to 40 high school students on her bus at one time. Although that may not seem like a lot, knowing anything can happen at any time keeps Batiste on the alert at all times.

"I'm not a hero or I don't feel like one," Batiste said. "Once those kids get on the bus, they are my kids until I get them off, and I would want someone to do the same for me if I were the one in need of help."

Vigil said the father of the child has expressed his deepest gratitude to Batiste and wants to warn other parents to talk to their kids, even their teens, about possible choking hazards.