DAYTONA BEACH — During much of March, youth at Orlando’s First United Methodist Church, Pine Hills, participated in "Survivor" lessons based on the popular reality television program. They learned about surviving parents, drugs and the media. They didn’t realize they would soon survive a natural disaster, too.

Five middle-school-aged boys from the church’s youth group left Orlando March 13 with their youth director, Staci Biela, and pastor, the Rev. Alan Liphart, to attend a "Survivor" retreat in St. Simons Islands, Ga.

The group was in Liphart’s van on I-95 near Daytona when they were stopped by traffic.

"The sky turned black at a certain point, and we began discussing how it looked like tornado weather," Biela said.

About 30 seconds later, the van started shaking. Then something hit it, making a loud noise, shattering windows and popping the tires.

"The youth screamed. I did, too, I think," Biela said. "Then we saw a huge semi truck with an extra trailer. The trailer was on its side, but the truck was upright. We called 9·1·1 and were told to stay in the car because there was a tornado directly on top of us."

Although nobody was injured, one of the boys went to the hospital to calm down.

"One boy was shaking, and he wouldn’t stop. I was afraid he was going into shock," Biela said. "He felt the trailer brush his arm, and he was scared he would get sucked out the window. He just needed to sit in a stable environment for a little while."

Biela said they didn’t see or hear anything because the tornado was directly above them. "It was fast," she said. "It happened so fast there was no time to think. We didn’t even realize what was going on. I was praying, ‘Dear God, give me some peace right now.’ "

Biela is proud of how the kids reacted. "Most of them were levelheaded," she said. "They put pillows up over the windows to block the rain…They did exactly as they were asked to do."

She is even more proud of how the boys have reacted since that day. "The kids have really bonded," she said. "They were close before…But now they’re really close. Their whole attitude has changed. Their attendance has gone up at church. They’ve been more helpful…more polite. Their self-esteem has gone up."

Biela, on the other hand, said she still cringes whenever a semi passes her on the highway. "I cringe and grip the steering wheel," she said. "And that’s not even in bad weather."