AAA Honors Montgomery County Student with Outstanding School Safety Patroller of the Year Award

GERMANTOWN, MD (June 25, 2025) - AAA proudly announces that Yahya Koroma, a fifth grader at Waters Landing Elementary School is Montgomery County’s 2024-2025 Outstanding School Safety Patroller of the Year.

Like thousands of his peers across the country, Yahya has remained committed to keeping his fellow students safe and being a positive role model at his school.

His AAA School Safety Patrol Advisor, Mr. Kevin Sandell, nominated Yahya for this award however, several of his teachers, peers and even his principal wrote letters of support for this honor, as well. They shared numerous examples of Yahya’s leadership, from de-escalating a heated exchange between students to providing special care and attention for a younger student with a complicated dismissal schedule.

“As the patrol sponsor, I have the opportunity to see students grow and become a leader throughout the years,” said Mr. Kevin Sandell, AAA School Safety Patrol Advisor at Waters Landing Elementary School. “With Yahya, I am so impressed with his growth and maturity since I met him in grade three. He has really taken the leadership role of being a patrol to the next level and is someone that all students and patrols respect and admire.”

For more than 100 years, the AAA School Safety Patrol has been the world’s largest school-based safety program. Patrollers around the world provide school-aged children an extra sense of safety and security during the school day’s busiest times: arrival and dismissal. As a peer-to-peer leadership development program, Safety Patrols are trained to recognize safety hazards to ensure a safer school environment. The presence of a AAA School Safety Patroller wearing the familiar belt and badge is a nationally recognized symbol representing nearly 680,000 children throughout the country who participate in the program each year.

“I am honored to present this award to Yahya,” said Renee Grey, Retail Manager at AAA Columbia Car Care Insurance and Travel Center. “It’s the dedication and leadership of students like Yahya and countless others that have made the AAA School Safety Patrol program so impactful for decades.”

Created to make school children safer while walking to school, the program has grown-up and matured with the times while remaining steadfast to its mission to provide a safer environment and leadership opportunities for millions of school children. The training that patrollers receive instills a sense of safety beyond street crossings, including bus and car drop-offs, monitoring hallway congestion, and teaching patrollers invaluable leadership skills.

The leadership values and safety awareness have inspired many former patrollers to pursue admirable careers, including Presidents of the United States, astronauts, governors, Members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, Olympic medalists, and authors, like Diary of a Wimpy Kid author, Jeff Kinney. Many patrollers now serve as educators, executives, and community leaders.

Since 1920, AAA has been providing various equipment and education materials to patrollers, including reflective belts, patrol badges and training resources. The AAA model has been adopted in at least 30 other countries, including England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.