When you wake up on a school morning, whether you are in elementary school or high school, you get dressed for the day, throw on your backpack, and head out the door. You have several options for getting to school, including walking, biking, driving, or taking the school bus. However, for most students in Woodford County, the school bus is the preferred choice almost every time. The Woodford County school bus system provides safe transportation to and from school for hundreds of students every day. That’s 170 days of constant back-and-forth driving for school bus drivers. An estimate of the number of trips taken by a bus driver in one day is around 6, but this doesn’t even include the driving for various field trips and extracurricular activities. Yet, every day when you walk onto a school bus, you are greeted with a smile and a welcoming environment. So, the question is, how do they do it? How do they not get tired of repeating the same thing every day?
As someone who had ridden the bus every day, these questions always seemed to linger in my head. Therefore, I asked my former bus driver, Ted Hundley, how he does it. He said, “I was never a morning person. Getting up at 5:00 A.M. was not fun. But the more I did it, the easier it was to get up. After a while, it got to be my favorite time of day.” Hundley also admitted a fun fact helped him bond with the kids, saying, “I also tried to remember all the first names of every child on my bus. There were only 5-10 days that I got them all right.” I continued to ask how he managed to stay positive and create a positive environment for the students on the bus. Hundley responded with, “It’s easy to stay positive with people you enjoy being around. Some of my friends asked me why I like driving a school bus. The answer was always the same…the kids.” However, not all the credit can be given to the school bus drivers for creating such a positive environment, seeing as he later added, “For the most part, our bus was made up of respectful and caring kids. The parents in our bus community get the credit for this one.” My final question was, What’s the most rewarding part of being a bus driver? This is such a deep question no one has really thought to ask their bus driver, but I feel it’s the most important. Hundley finished by saying, “There were several kids that I saw on their first day of pre-school and the last day of their senior year. The best part, for me, is that all of you are graduating and will grow up and be happy and successful. I never expected to be so attached to all the kids on my bus. I loved raising my three boys, and this gave me another chance to be around kids.”
Although I only spoke with one of the numerous bus drivers in Woodford County, there are still unique stories surrounding Woodford County, all of which contribute to the backbone of Woodford County Schools. However, not only are the school systems benefiting, but so is our community. Bus drivers build a bond with families across Woodford, connecting everybody as one. We need to recognize the importance of bus drivers and give them the praise they deserve. So, the next time you walk onto the bus and the driver greets you, just say thank you, because you don’t truly know the impact they have on you.
Thank you, bus drivers!
