St. Thomas Academy teacher Mitch Taraschi awarded five certificates Sept. 26 to five students who saved his life back in May.
Taraschi, who teaches Latin at the Mendota Heights school, had a stroke during his Latin II class. Five students in the class, from both STA and Visitation School, recognized Taraschi’s symptoms quickly and contacted first responders for help. Taraschi had surgery at a hospital soon after, and he resumed teaching the following week.
Visitation students Maria Daly, Kelli Martin and Anne Marie Underwood received Life Saving awards for their help with Taraschi. STA students Vinnie Motzel and Tom Litecky also received awards and military life-saving ribbons for aiding Taraschi.
STA and Visitation share certain classes such as Latin.