"Numb," is how security guard Laura Vernon described her condition after being named the 2008 NEA Education Support Professional of the Year last Friday during the annual ESP conference in Baltimore, Md.

Vernon was so overwhelmed with emotion she needed assistance walking from her table of fellow WEAC members (Wisconsin Education Association Council) to the stage where NEA President Reg Weaver presented her with two bouquets of roses and a $10,000 check that accompanies the award.

"Everyone from Wisconsin knows me, and knows I always have something to say," said Vernon, a school safety assistant at Roosevelt Middle School of the Arts in Milwaukee. "I have nothing to say right now."

The announcement was met with hoots, hollers and a standing ovation in a packed ballroom at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel. Many attendees were twirling their gold cloth napkins high over their heads as Vernon paused a few moments on stage amid  deafening applause to wipe away tears and smile at the hoard of photographers who gathered in front of the podium.

"I love children and I love this work we do," she said. "Wow, wow. Thank you so much . . .  whoever did this."

She did it herself, WEAC President Mary Bell said later.

"It comes from her heart," said Bell, who nominated Vernon for the award. "Laura cares deeply about the kids, public schools, and social justice. The work she's done on behalf of her members is unparalleled."

Vernon has worked 33 years with the Milwaukee Public School System and is a member of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association.

"You work all these years for the kids at the kind of job I have and you don't always hear 'thank you,'" she said the next morning. "Last night made up for all that."

Education support professionals account for about 40 percent of educators working in public schools and 483,000 of NEA's 3.2 million members. More than 990 ESPs and others registered to attend the two-day conference. Vernon, a member of NEA's Board of Directors, has three children and three grandchildren.

"I called them all last night," Vernon said. "They did a phone dance (put the receiver on the floor and danced in circles around it, singing)."

Vernon was also inundated with more than 50 text messages from WEAC and school colleagues. Vernon says she will start thinking about the speech she's scheduled to present this July at the NEA Representative Assembly in Washington, D.C.

"I hope I can motivate people to action," she says. "Right now, I've got to thaw out. I'm still numb."