The bus stops here: School bus drivers become friends and role models to the students they see daily

Kelly Elizalde didn't always want to be a school bus driver.

After a career in the Air Force and a five-year stint in a secretarial position, Elizalde took a chance at a local job fair in 2013 and found her calling.

"I've found that it was probably what I was meant to do all along, I mean, I absolutely love it," she says.

Elizalde says her favorite part of driving the school bus is the relationships she's established with returning riders. She says there is, among others, a boy in second grade who has ridden her bus since he was in kindergarten. She's been watching the kids who ride her bus grow up over the years, and has enjoyed it every step of the way.

Robert Harris, who began driving school buses throughout the area in 1982, shares this notion.

Kelly Elizalde poses for a photo on the school bus she drives through Robinson Transportation for Cape Girardeau Public Schools, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015. (Laura Simon)

"I've met so many great kids that, some of them went on to do great things, you know, and I just know too many good kids," he says with a wide smile.

He says he's enjoyed his time driving and the opportunity to have such a fulfilling work position, especially in terms of the example he sets for the kids who ride his bus.

Kelly Elizalde poses for a photo on the school bus she drives through Robinson Transportation for Cape Girardeau Public Schools. (Laura Simon ~ lsimon@semissourian.com)

"Sometimes kids need to see something positive out of people, and sometimes a positive male role model is what's needed," he says. "There are so many kids who don't have that male figure in their lives, and with them just seeing how a man should act, how a man should carry himself -- that is what I feel I accomplish."

Elizalde has similar feelings.

"I just want to have a positive (influence)," she says. "They have so much negativity and not a lot of attention, especially my little ones. I could tell you the ones that are just craving love and attention because they're the ones that get on the bus and hug me every day and tell me they love me. And I just love it. I feel like this is what I was supposed to do all along."

Kelly Elizalde poses for a photo on the school bus she drives through Robinson Transportation for Cape Girardeau Public Schools, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015. (Laura Simon)

She says the relationships she establishes with her riders throughout the school year are meaningful and make her job feel less like work.

"The elementary kids -- oh my gosh. I cried last year on the last day of school when I let my last one off, because they just become your kids," she says.

Although she doesn't treat the children she drives as her friends, Elizalde says she will always be a cheerleader at their concerts and events if asked.

"The little ones have programs, or even the junior high (kids), I've gone to their concerts and I've gone to watch them sing," she says. "If they ask me to be there, I'm going to be there. If they take the time to ask me to go, I'm going to go."

Elizalde says she drives her bus in earnest and prides herself on the level of accountability the position demands.

Kelly Elizalde poses for a photo on the school bus she drives through Robinson Transportation for Cape Girardeau Public Schools, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015. (Laura Simon)

"I'm responsible for them, to get them wherever they're going safely, and I take it very serious. ... It just makes me feel very responsible and like I said, at that time, they're in my hands, and it's very important for me to get them to where they need to go and get them there and back safely," she says.

Harris also works to benefit the community through his founding of the Cape Girardeau Community Gardens program. He also volunteers with the Urban Kids Project, which helps area students in need of school supplies; and works with the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center and the Healthy Communities Coalition to combat childhood obesity in the area.

At the end of the day, though, Elizalde and Harris say being a school bus driver is the best job for them.

"I worked at several different things, and I always liked to drive, so this was work, and I've got to where I like being around the kids. And this is what I do," Harris says.

"Every day you've got, it's something different every day," Elizalde says. "And the kids make you feel -- especially the little ones -- they make you feel so loved. I really, really enjoy it."

Harris drives bus No. 8 and transports students to and from Franklin Elementary and Cape Central Junior High. Elizalde drives bus No. 28 and transports students to and from Blanchard Elementary and Cape Central Junior High.