After racing barefoot ahead of a tornado in Texas last week to warn students and their parents to take shelter, an elementary school teacher is being hailed as a hero for her actions.

Megan Parson is an educator at Celia Hays Elementary School in Rockwall, where she teaches fourth grade.

The day’s classes had just ended when the principal’s voice was heard over the loud speaker warning pupils that there were tornadoes in the neighborhood and instructing them to take the appropriate safety stance against the walls of the corridor.

Parson was aware that there were already pupils waiting to be picked up by their parents outside the school as the students were kneeling down and placing their hands over their heads in the designated position.

She claims that when she saw the line of cars that were already waiting in the school’s carpool lane, she slipped off her shoes (“because they were new and cute”) and took off running to warn the parents. The teacher, who is also an avid Instagram fashion blogger, is 25 years old.

After some time had passed, it dawned on Parson that she had, in addition, neglected to take off the fake black mustache that she had been sporting for a class party before informing the parents. This revelation amused Parson.

“So, all parents see is this crazy girl running barefoot in the rain with a tornado in the background wearing a fake black mustache,” Parson recalled in a Facebook post.

“So, all parents see is this crazy girl running barefoot in the rain with a tornado in the background wearing a fake mustache.”

“It’s no surprise that they made me sprint all the way to their window before lowering it.

“It goes without saying that I took the mustache off, kept running, and completed warning every parent in the remainder of the cars down the block to seek cover, but I didn’t include the mustache in my instructions.”

When Parson viewed the now-famous photograph that one of the parents had taken of her improvised effort to get the students to safety, it was only then that she understood how near the tornado actually was to the school.

According to Fox 4 Dallas, Parson was quoted as saying, “That is such a crazy photo, and thank you to whoever took it because I don’t think anyone would have ever believed me that I was running down the street and that I looked ridiculous doing it.”

“Thank you to whoever took it because I don’t think anyone would have ever believed me that I was running down the street and that I looked ridiculous doing it.”

“I’m just really grateful that everybody was safe in the end, and that we were able to get a good laugh out of it,” she said.