Winston Salem Times

Winston-Salem & Forsyth County Schools issued the following announcement on October 29.

OCTOBER 29, 2021 – On Wednesday Oct. 27, rather than sitting down to eat when it was time for lunch, students at Middle College of Forsyth and Early College of Forsyth gathered to let bus drivers know they are appreciated.

In a hallway at Middle College, administrators and teachers had loaded tables with “thank you” treats for bus drivers.

One after another, students zipped down the hall filling bags with water bottles, tubes of Dewey’s Sugar Cookies, snack-size bags of chips, and candy. They would insert a custom-made “thank-you” note, and they were done.

When one bag was filled, they would circle back around and fill another. The goal was to fill 300 treat bags, enough for every WS/FCS bus driver and bus assistant to be given one.

When the “thank you” notes ran out before all 300 bags were filled, some students went into a nearby room and began making more cards. One student drew a bus on the front of the card. Bringing to mind the children’s song, Early College student Nisi Reyes wrote “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round” on the front of the card.

Inside the card, students would write something along the lines of “Thanks for all you do for us.”

The new cards meant that all 300 bags soon contained a “thank you” card.

With so many students working so hard, filling the bags only took about 20 minutes from start to finish.

Amber 67“I am in shock that it went so fast,” said Amber Sluder, a Middle College teacher who was one of the project organizers.

Asked why she wanted to give “thank you” bags to bus drivers, Sluder said, that bus drivers always work hard.  knowing all the extras stresses that bus drivers have been dealing with lately, she said, “I thought, ‘We need to do something for them.’”

Other teachers and administrators of the two schools – both are on the campus of Forsyth Technical Community College – soon joined in. They began collecting treats, and students began creating cards.

Everyone appreciates what bus drivers are doing, said Early College teacher Bradley McNeil, and this was a way to show that.

Lisa Nakawatase, the assistant principal at the two schools, said that one thing she hoped that students took away from the experience is the value of not just recognizing how someone helps us but making a tangible gesture.

“Appreciate them right now,” Nakawatase said. “They are working hard.”

The students at Middle College and Early College are great, she said, and really appreciated them being willing to taking their lunch break to participate.

Bag 67“They are really, really amazing and kind,” she said.

Middle College senior Kamren Bethea was one of the students who filled the bags.

Although she no longer rides a school bus these days, she did ride the bus back in middle school. She could see what a hard job it was, and she was happy to participate in the project.

“Maybe just give them a little bit of motivation,” Bethea said. “Let them know that the students care.”  

Middle College senior Eva Guzman was eager to participate as well.

“They truly do help us out,” she said.

It was Wacky Tacky Day at the two schools, and many students had made creative choices when getting dressed for the day. For her Wacky Tacky outfit, Middle College senior Arinya Dickerson had chosen a dressy knee-high black boot – something she might wear to a formal dinner – for her left foot and a everyday work boot on her right foot.

Bus 34Referring to the work boot, she said, “I wear these whenever I want to.”

To top off the outfit, she donned a fedora hat.

“I am going all out today,” she said.

Reese Flynn, who is a senior at Early College, was one of the students who worked on creating more cards. Since fifth grade, Flynn has known she wants to be a teacher.

“I like helping people,” she said. “I have always loved school.”

“It combines the two.”

At present, she is planning to teach high school English.

When it was time to put together the “thank you” bags, Principal Joey Hearl had taken charge of the table filled with tubes of Dewey’s Sugar Cookies. As each student came by, he dropped a tube into the bag.

“I love doing stuff like this,” Hearl said.

Hearl 45Once all the bags were filled, Hearl said that, as important as the focus on academics is, it’s just as important to teach young people about the importance of caring for others – something that can’t be evaluated on a standardized test.

“It’s equally important to teach young people to be good people – teach them how to help people in need, show respect, and appreciate different groups of people, and just teach them how to love each other,” he said.

The connection with Dewey’s came through Middle College teacher Phillip Mullis, whose wife, Sherrie Mullis – a graduate of West Forsyth High – is the Vice President of Research & Development at Dewey’s Bakery.

As did others, Mullis thought that the “thank you” bags were a valuable gesture. Although people might think about how bus drivers serve students and the school system, they might not say anything.

“Let’s get some action behind those thoughts,” he said.

Dewey’s has supported Middle College and Early College with other projects in the past, and, when he told his wife about this project, she worked with the folks at Dewey’s, and they donated more than 300 tubes of Sugar Cookies.

Hall 98When asked whether there was any chance that he had sampled a cookie from one of the tubes along the way, Mullis smiled and said that he had.

“I wanted to be able to say with authority, ‘These are great.’”

Other teachers participating in the project included Amanda Sontag and Leigh Ann McDowell.

Original source can be found here.