What began as a typical school day for two Notre Dame teachers turned into a life or death situation.

When math teacher Becky Placzek glanced out one of the Clarendon Hills’ school windows May 15, she noticed flames and smoke coming from a home on Golf Avenue.

She alerted fellow staff to call 911 and ran over with computer teacher Sylvia Lawson to make sure no one was in the house. They began pounding on windows and doors, even though it appeared nobody was home.

Jonathan Rogowski, 19, who had just finished his first year of college, was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom.

“We were both kind of surprised he came to the window because it didn’t look like anyone was in there,” Lawson said after the event.

When Clarendon Hills Fire Chief Brian Leahy arrived on the scene, he found the two teachers and Tom Fasco, the maintenance man for Notre Dame, banging on the doors. With firefighters still en route, they coaxed Rogowski to jump from the window into a grassy area. The teen managed to jump and escape the fire unharmed.

For these lifesaving efforts, Lawson and Placzek were presented with citizen awards at Monday’s Village Board meeting. Fasco also was honored with the award but was not in attendance.

Leahy said without the efforts of Placzek, Lawson and Fasco, he doubts Rogowski would have been able to escape from his home because of the extreme fire, heat and smoke conditions.

“Their actions have proven to me that we still have people out there that will come to the aid of their fellow citizens at a time of need,” Leahy said Monday.

Looking back, Placzek mainly remembers the extreme amount of smoke, which she said was “unbelievable.”

“I felt like I needed to do something, and I just wasn’t going to give up until the Fire Department got there,” she said.

As for the award, Placzek said its nice to have something tangible to recognize her efforts during that atypical day.