Waves crash over sophomore Zack Barnes’ make-shift raft. The sun rapidly sets as they paddle beyond the waves. The ocean instantly became sky as the horizon divided their view into two elements of nature. The deep blue of the ocean is suddenly interrupted by the sight of two heads bobbing in the distance.

What was a thrill of adventure soon became a nightmare. On Labor Day Weekend, Barnes and his friend, Wesley Coles, rescued a swimmer off the coast of Sullivan’s Island.

“My friend and I built a raft out of some wood [with] two surfboards underneath,” Zack said. “We brought it to the ocean just so we could jump off. We were pretty far out where the waves were breaking past the sandbar. We just saw two people flailing around pretty far out… one victim was sort of disoriented and coughing because he [inhaled] water.”

As Coles swam to the victims, Zack began signaling for help. In the process, Coles lost view of one of the swimmers.

“I [waved] for like 10 minutes, but it felt like forever,” Zack said. “This 17-year-old guy swam over to us. He was a really good swimmer and played water polo… he said he saw us jumping off [the raft] so he thought we might have been joking waving our arms… the firemen came on the jet skis and they grabbed [the victim] and then came back for us.”

After being returned to the shore, Zack gave his information to the fire department and then made his way home where his mother, Izabela Barnes, preparing dinner.

“The sirens started… more sirens and more sirens, they just kept coming,” Izabela said. “[Zack] showed up with Wesley. My first thought was that he looked dry-mouthed, wide-eyed, like something big had just happened and he said, ‘we just saved somebody.’”

As Zack began explaining what had happened, Izabela was overcome with emotion and fear of the what-ifs.

“As a mom, the hardest part for me was admiring their quick actions and bravery… I was proud that a lot of their instincts were in the right place… When he told me that it looked like they had been waving forever and nobody was looking and there wasn’t anything happening and their arms were hurting and their screams weren’t going anywhere… my heart kinda stopped. I got a little weepy thinking that could have been the turning point where things just don’t go in the direction that you wish it had been,” Izabela said.

Zack and Coles were able to save one person during the event. The body of the second victim, 17-year-old Rene Gutierrez, washed up onto the shore the next day.

“It was so real in my mind that we saw him and we could have saved him, but I thought that at least we saved one [because] if we never took any action there would have been two people that drowned,” Zack said.

Zack and Coles were honored by Sullivan’s Island and the state for their actions, including receiving South Carolina’s highest honor for a citizen 18 years old or younger.

“We received a proclamation from the town just congratulating us, and then we [received] the [Order of the] Silver Crescent… from Gov. [Henry] McMaster,” Zack said.

“I requested the award and the Speaker of the SC House of Representatives signed it,” SC Rep. Joe Bustos said. “All five million residents [are] proud of his selfless act.”