Parkway North Students Home Safe From Spring Break Trip After Bus Scare

Early Tuesday morning, and only about 30 minutes off-schedule, three buses carrying Parkway North Marching Band and Orchestra students, staff and chaperones arrived back on campus following a spring break trip to the Bahamas that ended safely after a scare early Thursday morning.

Near Atlanta, one of the drivers fell unconscious, roughly an hour after one student said they had just switched drivers at a rest stop. Band Director Mark Linn jumped into action and guided the bus, carrying about 46 people to safety. More than 120 people were on the trip.

Read: Update On Parkway North Spring Break Bus Incident: 'Scary as all Get Out'

After a change of drivers, the trip continued on without incident to Orlando, and then the cruise to the Bahamas which included a musical competition. While the final results of the competition haven't been tallied, each Parkway North group earned Superior rankings, along with two outstanding solo awards and an outstanding section honor.

"You were worried about the cruise and look what happened," was what Peggy Stevens, one of the many parents on hand to greet the buses, said she was met with by co-workers who heard about the incident. It was her daughter Sara's first time out of the country on a cruise by herself.

"None of us were screaming because we were still asleep," Sara Stevens, a sophomore who was on the bus as it started hitting cones in a construction zone Thursday, said. "It was over like a couple minutes, but it felt like forever," she said.

At least one parent who didn't have any kids on the trip came out to greet the group Tuesday morning, with balloons for Linn as a way of saying thanks for his heroism. Linn heard from a former student in Australia on Facebook last night offering praise. Will his current students would think of him any differently moving forward?

"They just know me as Mr. Linn," he said. "I don't think they expect any different from me."

Students & Parents: Do you have photos to share from the trip? Click on the Upload Photos button and tell us about your adventure.

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