ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – While principals have a significant impact on students, one third grader will never forget what his principal did for him—she jumped into action and saved his life.

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Aura Acabal has been an educator for more than 20 years, and she says that teaching has been her greatest joy. “The kids, the families, the community, the teachers. So yeah, La Mesa is everything,” she shares. However, in her two decades of teaching, she experienced a first earlier this month that required her to act quickly to rescue a student.

It was after school at La Mesa Elementary, and the school nurse had already gone home for the day. Kids were getting ready for a performance and enjoying pizza when a staff member alerted her, saying, “He’s choking! He’s choking!” Acabal recalls, “I just didn’t know what to do. I threw my stuff on the floor and followed the EA to the classroom.”

When she arrived, the third-grade student was unable to breathe. Acabal quickly jumped into action. “I just reacted, got behind him, and performed the Heimlich maneuver. I started doing it, and suddenly I saw a little piece of pizza come out of his mouth.”

Fortunately, the student is okay. While Acabal doesn’t want to experience such intense moments again, she assures she would in a heartbeat, “Definitely. Definitely. I would always try to do and do my best.”

Acabal has been the principal at La Mesa for the past seven years.