A team of school bus drivers in Ohio recently joined forces to pay touching tribute to all of this year’s graduating seniors and give them the kind of heartfelt sendoff they deserve.
As TODAY reported, the Loveland transportation department wanted to find a way to honor the 392 seniors and bid them farewell, even if the ongoing coronavirus outbreak meant they couldn’t do so in person.
A viral video shared to the Loveland City Schools’ Facebook page captured a bird’s-eye-view of the heartfelt display.
In the clip , the filming drone slowly pans back to reveal 22 yellow school buses carefully arranged together to spell out “2020”.
Lisa Moorhead, a 23-year veteran bus driver and the organizer of the sweet event, said it took over 3 hours to put together.
Although a stunning display from an aerial perspective, she said the drivers on the ground weren’t sure they’d been able to pull off their intended goal.
In fact, it wasn’t until they saw the finished product for themselves that they know they’d managed to do something amazing.
“To us down on the ground, it looked like a maze,” Moorhead explained to TODAY . “When [art and photography teacher] Jim Barrett took [the drone] up, there were tears and screams. We were so excited we’d done it.”
The video, which was posted to Facebook on May 18, has now been viewed over 4,000 times.
“This is so awesome and really touching,” one user commented. “Thank you for your dedication!”
Another added, “Super cool! Thank you for all the safe trips!”
“Loveland really comes out for their students,” a third person wrote.
Moorhead said the display was more than just to say congratulations — it was to salute the students who many of the drivers have been carting to and from school for years.
“We didn’t have our last days with any of the kids in district,” she explained. “We thought [school closures] were going to be three weeks, but it turned out to be the rest of the year.”
“As bus drivers, we bond with our kids,” she continued. “We’re the first ones they see in the morning and the last ones before they go home.”
Other Loveland bus drivers have since come forward to explain why it was important for them to participate in the end-of-the-year display.
“Some of us have been around long enough to transport these kids since kindergarten, and some of us have only been working with the district for a few years, but the one thing we all have in common is the love for our students,” driver Jennifer Bloom Bowman explained in a press release from the school district. “This is a huge accomplishment and anyway we can show them some love, we will do it. So here’s to the Class of 2020. Your bus drivers are proud of all of you.”
Another driver, Michele Winter, chimed in, “Every story, every hug, every laugh and every tear with them are memories and sometimes even lessons. To the kids of the past, the present and the future, this is for you!”
h/t: TODAY , Facebook | Loveland City Schools
