ROCHESTER — Gonic School Principal Gwen Rhodes said her rescue of a child from the Cocheco River on Wednesday morning was no more difficult than what educators do every day.

Rhodes was quick to brush off terms like “hero” in regard to the incident, and has tried to keep things at her school as normal as possible since it happened.

Around 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning, EMS crews were called to the school for a report of a student running into the woods.

But the situation had become much worse than that.

Rhodes said the student, who has autism, got himself into a situation he could not get out of and may not have been aware of the icy danger of the river which runs behind the school. She simply did what she always does, which is look out for the best interest of students, she said.

After running into the woods, the student had crossed one section of the river onto a small peninsula, then onto another section of the river that loops around, Rhodes said.

She and another educator were following the student’s footsteps into the woods while others called 911 when Rhodes said she heard the child scream.

She reached a steep embankment and saw him on the river.

“He looked at me and he said ‘help.’ I said his name and said ‘don’t move’ and just then the ice cracked and at that point he’s going into the water, so I just reacted to get closer to him,” Rhodes recounted during a phone interview on Friday.

Although they could touch ground, the water was cold, and icy, as would be expected even on a warm January day.

She said the only way to get the student out of the water was to work upstream away from the steep embankment to flatter land. She started swimming with the student to where she saw a tree, held on for a moment, and realized no one was coming yet to help them.

“I gave him directions step by step as we carefully worked our way up,” Rhodes said. “He did everything I asked him to do.”

She said she knew she could not stay standing in the water while holding the student up, and began slowly and carefully pushing him out of the water and up the bank.

When they arrived out of the woods, first responders were there to meet them.

Fire Lt. Dennis Dube said police crews had already gotten the wet and cold principal and student onto the pavement and had them wrapped in blankets. Both were taken to Frisbie Memorial Hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Dube said, primarily from exposure.

Rhodes said while it was happening, she didn’t even notice the water was cold.

“I think what I want people to know is I did what I did because I was in a circumstance where I had to think quickly,” Rhodes said. “Which is what an educator does every day.”

She said whether that is teaching a student to read, solve math problems or in the interest of safety.

“We are always making decisions and they’re all tough. This one just happens to be dramatic,” Rhodes said.

“We try to put plans in place so these kind of incidents don’t happen, but we can’t predict every possible thing. Sometimes the unexpected happens,” Rhodes said.

This is her fourth year as principal of Gonic School, but she has been teaching for many more.

She said she has never had to deal with a situation like this before in her career.

After she realized both she and the student were going to be fine, Rhodes said they got right to discussions about how to prevent something like that from happening again.

“When someone goes through a chapter of a reading program and they haven’t attained the same level as other students, we have to go back and look at what to do differently. This case is no different than that,” Rhodes said.