On March 8, Amanda Ross was riding the Metro on her way to visit Washington, D.C. when she saw a fellow passenger who appeared to be in distress. Ross had recently taken a Red Cross course at Burke United Methodist Church; she used her knowledge to get the man help and saved his life. The life-long Burke resident and figure skater recently sat down and answered a few questions about herself and about her action that day.
Family: I live with my mom. My brother lives about two miles away, off Burke Centre Parkway.
Education: I go to NOVA [Northern Virginia Community College]. I'm studying basic subjects now, but one day I hope to be either a vet or a marine biologist.
Activities/interests/hobbies: I'm a figure skater. I started when I was 11. I skate up at Fairfax Ice Arena.
Describe the day in the Metro station. I was supposed to be babysitting that day, but I had forgotten the week before. My mother was home that day because of the weather, so I couldn't exactly go home and face her, so I decided to go down to D.C. On the first Metro, I was at Franconia-Springfield. When I got on the train, I heard some man say, "Hey, man, you all right? You all right?" I stand up and this guy was slumped over his seat. I had just got Red Cross-certified — I hadn't even got that little card yet — so I was trying to decide if I should go over and help him. But once the Metro employee left, I was like, "Yeah, I should go." I made sure he was breathing, got him pulled off his seat, and basically just waited there till the ambulance came … he wants to take me out to dinner now. He got my number because when the ambulance came, I asked to go with him but I couldn't because I wasn't friend or family. So I went over later that day to go check on him and just said that I'm a friend.
Why did you decide to get Red Cross-certified? Babysitting.
Are there any community "hidden treasures" you think more people should know about? The dog park. I love the dog park, I go to the one in Springfield. I have two pugs.
Community concerns: Trash pick-up in the woods. I spent so much of my childhood in the woods, and I still spend a lot of time there, and there's always cans, bottles and all that nice stuff.
If you could go on a road trip anywhere in the U.S., where would you go? I would probably go to New York City. I went once with my orchestra. There's just so much to do there. I didn't get enough time to see everything I wanted.
Last book you read: The last book I read entirely would be the Harry Potter book.
Last movie you watched: That would probably be with my friend Lindsey. We watched "Stranger than Fiction." Every Friday night we rent two movies, one of them we try to make really bad and one of them we try to make really good. ["Stranger than Fiction"] was our good movie. The bad one was "Dracula 3000." It was really bad. We've rented "Short Circuit" and "Snakes on a Plane." Those were our bad movies.
What kind of music do you listen to? I listen to lots of types of music. The two things that I can't stand are hip-hop and rap.
Career goals: I've wanted to be a veterinarian all my life, and a marine biologist, a shorter time but still pretty long. I like water. And I also like dolphins, I have two [dolphin] necklaces.
Personal goals: I want to get into a four-year college. And hugs from my brother every Tuesday.
— Lea Mae Rice