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

FORESTVILLE, MD (June 25, 2025) - AAA proudly announces that Tori Tate, a fifth grader at Longfields Elementary School is Prince George’s County’s 2024-2025 Outstanding School Safety Patroller of the Year.

Tori was nominated for this honor by her School Safety Patrol Advisor, Ms. Bonnie Schlorb for her exemplary leadership qualities. Like thousands of her peers across the country, Tori has remained committed to keeping her fellow students safe and being a positive role model at her school.

While Tori was nominated for this award by her advisor, several of her teachers, peers and even her principal wrote letters of support for this honor and shared numerous examples of Tori’s leadership.

One such example illustrated Tori's response in offering guidance and suggestions to a fellow patroller to handle a delicate situation more effectively. Tori’s actions showed a “level of maturity and self-reflection (that) is rare in students her age, and it highlights her natural leadership abilities,” said Ms. Carmen L. Bell, Principal at Longfields Elementary.

Ms. Bell continued, “Tori Tate's dedication to her responsibilities, her ability to foster a positive school environment, and her thoughtful, reflective approach to leadership make her an outstanding candidate for the School Safety Patrol of the Year Award. We are proud to have Tori as part of our team and are confident she will continue to inspire those around her.”

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.

“It’s the dedication and leadership of students like Tori and countless others that have made the AAA School Safety Patrol program so impactful for decades, “ said Crystal Smalls, Retail Manager at AAA Laurel Car Care, Insurance and Travel Center.

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.

“AAA is proud to support this important safety program in Prince Georges County and at schools across Maryland,” Smalls added. “We provide these young people with training tools to help make their school safer. We are impressed with their leadership and initiative in implementing safety changes and improvements at their schools."

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.