Hugh Cole Elementary teaching assistant Bonnie Dion was given a standing ovation and thunderous applause from the Bristol Warren School Committee and its attendees on Monday night, recognizing her for her heroic act of saving a student who was choking in the cafeteria back in December.

“She’s the heart and soul of Hugh Cole. She is passionate as she is unpretentious. She is kind as she is gruff. And she’s a little loud,” principal Colin Grimsey joked. “She can command a room. Most days, that’s the cafeteria, where she rules. I find myself taking orders from her all the time in the cafeteria. Things always work out better when I do…What she did was something that none of us will ever forget.”

Grimsley commented that when Dion was interviewed following her actions, she didn’t seek glory or praise for her actions, but instead asked people to get trained in the Heimlich and CPR, and to give thanks to a military veteran in their lives.