CORTLAND - Katy Campbell hit her head twice on the school bus window, shattering the glass the second time.

She remembers the girl sitting next to her - who was now sitting on the window of the bus as it lay on its side - asking her if she was OK.

Then, Campbell says, she remembers pulling her head off the gravel and helping younger students out the back of the overturned bus.

Campbell - a 10th grader at Norris High School - and 46 of her fellow students, their parents, rescue workers and school officials have a lot of reasons to be thankful. For one, every student on the bus was saved.

The community honored the students Sunday for the way they handled that Aug. 24 crash.

In a matter of minutes, and before rescue workers arrived, the students were able to get themselves and their bus driver off the bus safely.

"From what I saw," Norris Assistant Superintendent John Skretta said to the students, "every single one of you is absolutely the definition of a hero."

Skretta was one of a handful of adults who thanked the students at Sunday afternoon's event, held in the Cortland Community Center.

They showed they haven't forgotten the accident, in which a pickup collided with a Norris School District bus in an intersection about four miles west of Firth.

The students were lauded for their bravery, courage and fortitude, said Donna Gana, who requested and received medals from the American Legion Auxiliary for each of the kids.

Ronny Aden, the bus driver, gave the students their medals, as the crowd of about 200 applauded for each.

Gana said the medals were the most the American Legion Auxiliary has ever given at once.

"They all, I thought, were brave," she said.

Adam and Michelle German, parents of two children on the bus, thought so too.

And they would know. The Germans are both emergency medics, and Adam German was one of the first rescue workers on the scene.

"All the kids were surprisingly calm," he said.

Within about two minutes - before any rescuers arrived at the scene - all 47 students and their injured bus driver, 67-year-old Aden, were off the bus.

The students walked about 500 feet from the crash site and sorted themselves into two groups: bleeding and not bleeding.

Austin German, a seventh-grader, was one of those dinged up in the crash.

He and his little sister, a second-grader named Jerica, rode with their dad in an ambulance.

A short while later, their mom met them at BryanLGH Medical Center East in Lincoln.

"I got to see (Jerica) right away, and she just wanted to hug me," Michelle German said.

Sunday, the German kids' memories weren't perfect.

Adam German said the whole event was perhaps a bigger deal to adults than it was to the students.

"I'm always proud of them. They did a real good job that day," he said. "They've had extra, extra hugs. ... They were probably nearly hugged to death."

Campbell remembers a bit more than the German kids.

But she doesn't remember racing to the back of the bus and jumping through the exit at the back.

After Sunday's event, she didn't brag about doing anything special, her mom beaming from behind her.

At first, she said, many of the students were worried about getting back on the bus. Especially the first day after the crash, when it was raining hard.

"It's back to normal now," she said. "It doesn't scare us anymore."

Reach Zach Pluhacek at 473-7234 or zpluhacek@journalstar.com.