Every day you see this happy and calming face in the morning when you get on the bus. You see Miss Jackie, a Bus Driver for Woodbridge Township School District. She brings her positive aura to the bus. We truly feel the safest when we get on. Today, we will find out how her life is as a bus driver, her struggles, her recommendations, and the rewards she puts her heart out every day to bring the students safely to school now let’s listen to what she says.
Miss Jackie has faced lots of challenges daily. For example, waking up early, it hard to get kids to their destination at a certain time with no guarantee of traffic. She said, “[It is] difficult to drive around traffic. Not only do we have to make sure you guys are safe but also if we are safe. So our eyes, the[students], and the road and everything that around us [are things I need to pay attention to].”’
Another challenge that she faces is cleaning up after students. If the student ate a snack and decided to not throw the food away she had to clean it up, but our kind bus driver Miss Jackie never said no to us eating snacks.
It’s not only Miss. Jackie, who thinks it is kind of hard, 8th grader Sayana Rajan said what she would feel if she were in Mrs Jackie’s shoes, “Hard, because some kids don’t like to cooperate, they choose to make noises, and be difficult.”
Miss Jackie stated over the years she had, ”Learned a lot of different personalities. All the kids are different. You drive very different groups and learn how to adapt to the kids on your bus, the roads, traffic, and parents.”
She may have faced many challenges but she kept finding ways to problem solve and she stated, “[When I have] students that I got on the bus for middle school and they go onto high school then college and they come over to you and say, ‘Hi miss Jackie how are you’[ it is a rewarding feeling].”
The students create such a deep connection with Miss Jackie that they still want to talk to her even though they are not on their bus. She also said, “Bring them to school and back safely.” She always makes sure we are safe and checks up on us. Her having a rewarding feeling to bring us safely home and to school is such an amazing feeling to know she cares about us. Thank you Miss Jackie for driving us to school for 23 years.
