A variety of images are captured in the winning entries in the 14th edition of School Bus Fleet’s Photo Contest. These exceptional shots were selected from 128 total entries, which were judged by SBF’s editors.
PHOTOS: <i>School Bus Fleet</i>'s 2018 Photo Contest
Winner: One student was sporting some serious style with his aviator sunglasses on the first day of school, when Judy Holzmann of Johnson School Bus Service in Campbellsport, Wisconsin, snapped this photo.
Honorable Mention: Scott Thorner of Star and Strand Transportation in Troy, New York, took this shot of training in action: Local police officers taught the school bus drivers at his company how to install car seats and how to tell whether a car seat has expired.
Also Noteworthy: Marc Austin, a driver/trainer for First Student in Omaha, Nebraska, caught a brilliant sunrise peeking through a school bus window.
Also Noteworthy: Rachel Sautner of Rohrer Bus in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, took this shot of an antique bus. The company acquired this 1936 International Harvester from the Hershey Museum in 2009, and partnered with the museum to restore it, Sautner told SBF. She also mentioned that it was used in the filming of the 2004 movie "Ray."
Winner: Chuck Barss of Schuylerville (N.Y.) Central Schools shared a shot of a peaceful pastoral scene in upstate New York. He noted that there are small farms similar to the one shown here along many of the district’s bus routes.
Winner: A spur-of-the moment shot, Kevin Smith of Transylvania County Schools in Brevard, North Carolina, told SBF he captured this reflection of Brevard High School’s American flag in the bus window one sunny October afternoon last year, moments before students boarded the bus.
Honorable Mention: Ryan Kimball of Kobussen Buses in Baraboo, Wisconsin, told SBF that one chilly morning, he took this photo as the sun was coming up, and that combined with the new snow, it may have created the purple sky. "I remember shoveling the path in the snow and the colors were just popping!"
Honorable Mention: On a particularly frigid January day, Chris Schadler of Walton-Verona Independent Schools in Walton, Kentucky, spotted a stop arm covered in icicles. It was the third snow day of the 2017-18 school year, and the forecast was for a high of 15 degrees Fahrenheit, Schadler told SBF.
Honorable Mention: A new bus assistant, Sarah Schuetz of Boulder Valley School District in Boulder, Colorado, recently applied her artistic talent in the transportation world. She told SBF that she drew this school bus on her Etch A Sketch for the end of the year.
Also Noteworthy: Tom Altman of Mojave (Calif.) Unified School District captured an image of teamwork during an annual bus evacuation drill at his district.
Also Noteworthy: Katrina Falk of Fayette County School Corp. in Connersville, Indiana, took this vintage-looking photo of a bus yard.
Also Noteworthy: Sonya Hemmen, head of school and bus driver for Ross Montessori in Carbondale, Colorado, shared a photo of Lee and Laura Thompson at their wedding in Marble, Colorado, in 2017. Lee Thompson is the school transportation/facility manager, and used the bus to transport family and friends to the remote wedding location, Hemmen told SBF.
Also Noteworthy: John Jaksa of Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, sent this photo of one of their buses serving as a welcome wagon. For the past two years, the bus has transported members of the high school's pep squad, band, Eagle mascot, and communication staff to surprise and welcome four incoming freshman who have been the first to enroll for the upcoming school year, Jaksa told SBF.
Also Noteworthy: Lynn Kennedy of Durham School Services in Algonquin, Illinois, captured a photo of this bird's nest on the top of a rearview mirror inside a bus that had been parked for disposal. Kennedy and her safety supervisor were ensuring that all salvageable equipment had been removed from the buses, which were scheduled to be disposed of the following day, she told SBF. The maintenance department rescheduled disposal for the bus until the baby birds hatched and flew away.
Also Noteworthy: Mary Waddell of Nelson Bus Co. in Forest Hill, Maryland, captured a bus and its reflection while students were picking out pumpkins at this farm in Churchville, Maryland.