MEMPHIS, Tenn. — NAPT held its annual awards banquet last night at the Memphis Cook Convention Center with about a dozen members being recognized.

The largest ovation was for Cathy Snow (pictured),a school bus driver for the Elk Grove Unified School District in Sacramento, Calif., who received the Blue Bird Heroism Award for attempting to save the life of a baby who was shot in the head by home-invasion robbers in 2007.The incident was depicted on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted,” which eventually led to the suspects’ capture. But Elk Grove kept Snow’s identity a mystery from the public until recently because of law enforcement’s concern that she might be the target of retribution, even though she did not actually witness the attack.

On Sept. 14, 2007, the baby's father had just pulled into the drive way of a friend's house and had gotten out of his car when the suspects forced him at gun point into his friend's house, leaving the baby strapped in his car seat. Once inside, the suspects shot and killed the baby's father and fled, but not before shooting into the car. The owner of the house than emerged, grabbed the baby and ran down the street to seek help. That's when the man saw Snow driving in the neighbor hood and flagged her down.

School bus video on board caught what happened next, as Snow pulled over and the man gave her the bloody baby before he ran off. For the next 10 minutes, the video captures Snow's efforts to save the baby's life while she calls dispatch and 9-1-1. The baby later died at a local hospital, but not before his mother was able to be at his side.

“We know our exposure is there for strange things,” said Jill Gayaldo, director of transportation at Elk Grove, the state’s fifth-largest school district. “But we also have outstanding supervisors who are all state instructors, and this incident upped our game to step up and be more creative. You never know what the emergency is going to be, but the key is to be prepared.”

One of those supervisors is James Snow, Cathy’s husband. He and Gayaldo were also present on Sunday night along with Dave Anderson, territory sales manager for Blue Bird dealer A-Z Bus Sales, Inc., which announced that it is sponsoring an annual student scholarship at Elk Grove in Snow’s name.

Other awards handed out Sunday evening included:

• Continuing Education Award sponsored by Thomas Built Buses:
  Heather Handschin, Spotsylvania (Va.) County Public Schools
• School Bus Driver Training and Safety Award sponsored by IC Bus:
  Columbus (Ohio) City Schools
• Special Needs Transportation Award sponsored by Sure-Lok:
  Victoria Creech, Orange County (Fla.) Public Schools
• Larson Quality Award
  Dysart Unified School District # 89 in Surprise, Ariz.
• School Transportation News Leadership Award
  Charley Kennington, Innovative Transportation Solutions in Houston
• NAPT America’s Best School Bus Technician
  Alan Fidler, Tippecanoe School Corporation in Indianapolis
• NAPT America’s Best School Bus Inspector,
  Jack Defibaugh, Greenbriar County (W.Va.) Schools
• Administrator of the Year (sponsored by School Bus Fleet)
  David Anderson, Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Thornton, Colo.
• Zonar Systems $50,000 Technology Grant
  Crystal Lake School District 47 northwest of Chicago