As the community impacted by the Uvalde, Texas school shooting tries to make sense of life after the tragedy, one family remembered a student who is now being called a hero. On Friday (May 27), the Girl Scouts of the United States of America awarded 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza with a posthumous Bronze Cross.

The rare award is for those who demonstrate “extraordinary heroism.” Just last week, on May 24, Garza became one of the first victims at Robb Elementary School as she attempted to dial 911 from a cell phone, her grandmother Berlinda Arreola said to People.

Arreola said “her heroism has not gone unnoticed” when speaking of her late granddaughter.

On Friday, representatives from the Girl Scouts presented the child’s family with a green Troop 7000 sash with the coveted bronze medal attached. There was also a framed declaration that the CEO of the Girl Scouts signed. Garza was a member of the Girl Scouts before her untimely death in last week’s mass school shooting.

As previously reported by REVOLT, on that fateful day, a gunman entered the elementary school with two assault rifles and killed 21 people, including 19 children and two adults. Before arriving at the school, the 18-year-old suspect Salvador Ramos reportedly shot his grandmother in the face and then used her pickup truck to get to Robb Elementary.

Garza’s father, Angel, is a paramedic who had previously spoken to CNN’s Anderson Cooper and shared that he found out about his daughter’s death while responding to the scene of the shooting and helping her friend.

He told Cooper that he treated a little girl who was covered in blood and crying hysterically as she told him her friend had been killed. “I asked the little girl the name and she said ‘Amerie,’” the father tearfully said.

During Friday’s ceremony to honor the 10-year-old, her grandmother said, “We were so proud of her.” She continued, “It was so emotional, them reading this declaration to us for her, it was just — it’s amazing. The words that they put into this thing was all Amerie, it was her and we are just so ecstatic about this.”

The grandmother added, “She deserved it. Our baby gave up her life for this, but she deserved it.”

Garza’s family shared fond memories of the little girl, saying that she kissed her 3-year-old baby brother every morning before leaving for school and that she loved pizza and swimming. Last year, she received the school’s “Heart of Gold” award.

“I just want people to know how brave she was, and unfortunately, it took her life, but she tried to save everyone,” Arreola said. “That was just the way she was. She tried to save everyone.”