EDITORIAL DESK Tere are a number of different roads that we can go down in life. Tey can be ridden with pot-


holes and speed bumps for some and nothing but smoothed asphalt for others. But it is not only the choice of roads that define us, but the way we travel down these roads. Although this is the second issue of STN for 2011, as I am writing this it is still the second week


Life is What You Make of It


By Stephane Babcock


of the new year. Every year, just moments before or after midnight on New Year’s Eve, we ponder the past year and think about how we can improve ourselves in the next one. Tere are promises of weight loss, reinvigorating your career and spending more quality time building memories with those you love. But, for some, it is a time to make an all over change that will affect every aspect of their lives. I am definitely guilty of giving up on more than one New Year’s resolution in the past, mostly


because I am not a fan of jogging. But this has not stopped me from trying once more to evaluate myself and look to where I can make improvements. In the coming year, the industry could see a number of changes. With partnerships at the fed-


eral level that were cemented over the last 12 months, we may see a brighter spotlight shone on the benefits of the yellow bus, especially with NHTSA promising to partner with industry leaders to begin a public awareness campaign in 2011. But we cannot just wait for this to begin to get out the message. When I was at the NAPT conference in Portland, Ore., this past fall, Roger Howsmon, Blue Bird’s


senior advisor, offered me a slice of some American School Bus Council-themed cake and a card that listed all the benefits of the school bus. It was a kind of conversation starter on school buses and their environmental, educational and safety benefits. I placed the card in my wallet and, to be very honest, forgot it was in there. About a month later, while enjoying some grilled crab legs at a holiday party at the house of one


of my wife’s cousins, the topic of school buses actually came up. And, being the “resident expert,” I soon found myself repeating from memory most of what was listed on the card without actually having looked at it since the NAPT Trade Show. Now, I will continue with my unabashed honesty. A little over four years ago, before I ever set


foot in the STN office, I would have never thought that school buses would be a topic I would be discussing, let alone know a good deal about. It was a thought that even entered my mind when I first began writing for the magazine, wondering how I was going to be able to write about school buses month after month. It did not take long for me to see that my “wonderings” were completely off and that I would have more than enough material to research, understand and report on. STN is entering its 20th year of publication. In that time, our founder Bill Paul has brought his


passion for school buses to each and every page of the magazine. Trough the years he has steered a number of us down the road along the way and helped some of us, including yours truly, to see issues from a number of different angles. In the past few years, Bill has began to pull back and is now enjoying the deserved fruits of all of his labor: retirement. Te road that he chose and continues to follow is one that is now shared by the rest of the STN


staff, headed by both our publisher, Tony Corpin, and Editor in Chief Ryan Gray. Tey have taken up the reigns, so to speak, and continue to push us to give the magazine the same passion it was founded with by Bill. In this next year, we will continue to give you the same great stories that have defined this


magazine over the past two decades. Along the way, no matter what speed bumps or potholes might appear, we will look to you to help us steer down the right path, one that not only in- forms, but benefits the industry by informing everyone on the passion that exist on every level of this great industry. And, I might just try to take up jogging again — but no promises. ■


58 School Transportation News Magazine February 2011


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