Winning entries in our 13th Photo Contest depict dynamic, breathtaking scenes from the day-to-day of pupil transportation. These top-notch images were selected from 38 total entries.
PHOTOS: <i>School Bus Fleet’s</i> 2017 Photo Contest
Winner: Tim Bentz of Cascade School District in Leavenworth, Washington, captured this image at one of his district’s more remote schools: a one-room school house in Plain, Washington, called the Winton School. Most of the school’s classes are now held in a two-room school house, known as the Beaver Valley School, on the same property, Bentz says.
Winner: Mitzi Bowers, of Allen (Texas) Independent School District, took this photo of a student boarding a school bus right after a rainstorm, originally planning to capture the bus splashing through water puddles but managing to get a colorful shot amidst the post-storm skies. Bowers also noted that this stop is challenging due to being on a busy street that leads up to a freeway.
Winner: Nicole Portee of Denver Public Schools snapped this shot of Nick Simonette, a maintenance technician in the transportation department, with his tool box. “The photo was inspired to show our stakeholders that there is more to transportation than the driver,” Portee said. “It continues to be important to convey to families the hard work that goes into ensuring the safety of our buses on the road.”
Honorable Mention: Nathan Graf of San Antonio (Texas) Independent School District took this photo while the transportation team was filming a video to recruit school bus drivers. The people holding the sign are school bus drivers for the district.
Honorable Mention: Wendy Vaughn of Jones County School System in Gray, Georgia, took this picture for a possible cover shot for the Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation fall magazine. “I knew that the fall leaves and fall colors were a must,” Vaughn said. “But I love reflection pictures.” The bus, a 2011 IC Bus model, was driven by Dot Land, who was a driver for Jones County School System and had recently passed away in a non-school related accident. “I honored her memory by using her bus,” Vaughn added.
Also Noteworthy: Peggy Stone of Kanawha (W.V.) County Schools captured this image of technicians working under the hood of a school bus.
Also Noteworthy: Mary Waddell of Nelson Bus Co. in Forest Hill, Maryland, took this picture while on a field trip, not at the Domino Sugars plant, but at the nearby Baltimore Museum of Industry. She could see the Domino Sugars sign and the sugar refinery plant in the background from where she was parked.
An Honorable Mention went to Brian Page of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Pictured is a robin’s nest found in a spare bus, a 2009 Thomas Built C2 model, at North Reading Transportation in Methuen, Massachusetts. The nest was found on April 27 during a state school bus inspection, Page told SBF. The bus was due to be replaced, Page added, but the nest was left alone until the eggs hatched and the birds were able to leave the nest.
Honorable Mention: Sara Clark of Wake County (N.C.) Public School System took this picture, titled "First Day Anticipation,” as her twin boys awaited the school bus on their first day of kindergarten.
Also Noteworthy: William Warner of Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District of Houston snapped this shot in the parking lot of the district's largest stadium and arena, the Berry Center. Shown here are the district's newest buses: 2016 IC Bus 77-passenger models. Warner had the buses lined up in a fan-out position and took the shot with his drone. The photo was taken for the district's transportation director to use in a presentation to the school board.
Also Noteworthy: Douglas Zimmerman, transportation director of Gwinn (Mich.) Area Community Schools caught a colorful image one morning as one of his department's buses started off on its route.