PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The bus ride to and from school may not always be the most exciting part of a child’s day, but one bus driver in Pinellas County is helping inspire the students on his route with kind messages posted around the bus.
“For me, I’m not just a driver. I’m an educator, a mentor,” said Anthony Burgess, a bus driver for Pinellas County Schools.
Burgess said he wanted the school bus to be a positive environment for the kids, so he encourages them to bring a quote that means something to them on board.
“The kids create the messages, and then in between my routes, I tape them up on the bus,” said Burgess.
The small gesture means a lot to the students on the bus route.
“It’s like a small amount of time, but it makes a big difference in your day,” said Keelia Cannon, an 8th grader at Largo Middle School.
The messages and pictures are posted all over the bus’s ceiling for everyone to see.
“I wrote this message on the bus, by Dr. Mae Jemison, I think: 'Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations,” said Logan Roberts, an 8th grader at Largo Middle. “Got this one up here, this pink one right here, 'if you can dream, you can do it,' by Walt Disney.”
“The other one back here is a quote from the movie The Land Before Time, ‘some things you see with your eyes, others with your heart,” said Cannon. “Like they have a bad day in the morning or have a fight, they come on the bus and feel much more better.”
Other messages included ‘your mindset can change everything,’ ‘being different is amazing,’ and ‘don’t let the anxiety monster control you.'
“If I can change their day, they can change someone else's day,” said Burgess.
