St. Cloud State Swimmer Marena Kouba Awarded Carnegie Medal for Heroism

St. Cloud State University swimmer Marena Kouba is one of 18 civilians who received the Carnegie Medal in recognition of heroism in the first quarter of 2022.

The Carnegie Hero Fund was established in 1904 with a $5 million trust by Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist.

The Carnegie Medal is given throughout the U.S. and Canada to those who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.

With this announcement, a total of 10,291 Carnegie Medals have been awarded since the Pittsburgh-based Fund’s inception in 1904. Commission Chair Mark Laskow said each of the awardees or their survivors will also receive a financial grant. Throughout the 118 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, nearly $44 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.

Kouba’s act of heroism came on July 19th, 2020. A captain of the SCSU women’s swimming and diving team, then-21-year-old Kouba was vacationing with her boyfriend at Little Presque Isle in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula when she noticed three swimmers -one adult and two children- struggling. When they called for help, she responded right away. “I couldn’t just stand around and wait to see what happened, immediately I dove into the water and started swimming out to them, they were all separated about 10 to 20 feet apart from each other,” Kouba described.

While her boyfriend stayed on shore and called 911, Kouba performed the daring rescue. “I got them all together, I had them all hold hands and then I went in the middle and linked up with them, and I paddled with one arm and kicked with both of my legs,” she said. It took about 15 minutes to paddle the trio 200 yards back to shore. The Coast Guard arrived just as they did.

In her interview with local media, Kouba credited head coach Jeff Hegle with instilling in her the values that contributed to the rescue. For his part, Hegle said, “She didn’t think about herself, she didn’t hesitate, she didn’t think what was best for her, she just knew that she had to help somebody else and somebody else was in need and she did that, and I think that’s the true sign of a leader and a captain.”

Kouba qualified for her third-and-final NCAA Division II Championship meet earlier this month as the backstroke leg of her team’s 16th-place 200 medley relay. A member of the Dean’s List at SCSU, she is a communication studies major and marketing minor, and also serves as a University Ambassador.

Among those saved by this quarter’s awardees, were at least nine children ranging in age from 5 to 13 years old. Ten-year-old Ricky Lee Sneve died saving his 5-year-old sister from drowning in the Big Sioux River and Arizona teens Zachary Johnson Haugen, 16, and Jake Vageli Watson, 15, jumped from Sunset Cliffs in San Diego to save an 18-year-old woman and 11-year old girl from drowning after they were swept into a Pacific Ocean cove by a 5-foot wave.

The latest awardees are:

• Evan Daniel Townsley, Los Angeles
• Ricky Lee Sneve, deceased, Hudson, South Dakota
• Patrick J. Driscoll, Centerville, Ohio
• Justin Leland Perry, Interlochen, Michigan
• Jason Hadfield, Kingsley, Michigan
• Peter Rosengren, deceased, Batavia, Illinois
• Arthur R. Caballero, Sr., deceased, Fresno,
• California
• Carl J. Robinette II, deceased, Hartsville, South Carolina
• Christopher Lee Taylor, Greenville, Ohio
• Marena L. Kouba, St. Cloud, Minnesota
• Magdalini Chormova, Athens, Greece
• Anthony Hogan, Haslet, Texas
• Daniel L. Cook, Alexandria, Louisiana
• Brandon Melancon, Church Point, Louisiana
• Layne Paul Gravois, deceased, Gray, Louisiana
• Kim A. McGrady, deceased, Dunwoody, Georgia
• Zachary Johnson Haugen, Phoenix
• Jake Vageli Watson, Scottsdale, Arizona

Selection Criteria for the Award

• “The rescuer must be a civilian who knowingly and voluntarily risks his or her own life to an extraordinary degree. Members of the armed services and children considered by the Commission too young to comprehend the risk involved are ineligible for consideration.”
• “The rescuer must have rescued or attempted the rescue of another person.”
• “The act of heroism must have occurred in the United States, Canada, or the waters thereof (12 nautical miles).
• “The act must be brought to the attention of the Commission within two years of the date of its occurrence.”
• “The act of rescue must be one in which no full measure of responsibility exists between the rescuer and the rescued, which precludes those whose vocational duties require them to perform such acts, unless the rescues are clearly beyond the line of duty; and members of the immediate family, except in cases of outstanding heroism where the rescuer loses his or her life or is severely injured.”
• “There must be conclusive evidence to support the threat to the victim’s life, the risk undertaken by the rescuer, the rescuer’s degree of responsibility, and the act’s occurrence.”^[5