Every February, the American School Bus Council designates the month as "Love the Bus" month, an opportunity for schools across the country to recognize the role school transportation plays in students' lives.
At Streetsboro City Schools, one bus driver is making the most of it with colored pencils, gift cards and a little friendly competition for the second year in a row.
Paula McCabe, a 15-year Streetsboro bus driver, organizes an optional coloring contest each February for the kindergarten through fifth-grade students she transports to both Streetsboro Elementary School and Henry Defer Intermediate School. She estimated 15 to 20 students pick up a sheet each year, and 12 to 15 returned completed entries. Students received a printed outline of a school bus and had about two weeks to decorate it however they chose.
A panel of voters, which has included transportation staff, district administrators and even a few of McCabe's family members, reviews the entries. McCabe separates submissions by building so each school has its own winner. McCabe removes herself from the voting, knowing she could not choose a favorite.
After loading students at each school, McCabe announces that building's winner. Each winner receives a Dairy Queen gift card McCabe purchases herself and poses for a photo.
For McCabe, the contest grew out of something she had already been doing on her own.
"I see how excited the kids get when they give me their own artwork, and it really does bring me joy," she said. "I have a whole binder at home from all of my years of driving. We can't put it up in our bus, so I have it at home in my office."
She said watching students approach the coloring sheets creatively is part of what makes the contest worthwhile.
"To see them get excited and be creative with the buses that they color shows the pride in their bus," McCabe said. "Some of them come with some pretty creative ideas, I'll have to say."
McCabe, who said she walked to school every day growing up and never rode a bus as a child, reflected on what the role means to her.
"My favorite place to be is on the bus with my students," she said. "I truly love my job. It's really special to me that I found a career that I love so much."
District staff have already asked McCabe to run the contest again before the end of the school year and are exploring making it a regular occurrence.