FIRST TAKE Relishing in No. 1 WRITTEN BY RYAN GRAY|
RYAN@STNONLINE.COM I
n September 1991, I was a 17-year-old senior in high school, enjoying an epic football season with my team- mates. We eventually won the California state champi- onship in December of that year, defeating the No. 1 team in the nation at Angels Stadium before 25,000 people. But earlier that summer, as our high school team was beginning its march to teenage glory, some 35 miles to the west, Bill and Colette Paul were publishing issue No. 1 of School Transportation News to a bit less fanfare. Te launch did not make the mainstream media like my team’s big win would (front page of the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News and Orange County Regis- ter—well, the Sports sections, anyway), but the maga- zine made waves throughout the industry, especially as the editor and publisher of School Bus Fleet had resigned to start his own publication. What a coup! In fact, as time would tell, it would become hallmark
event in the industry’s history, even helping to pave the way to Bill Paul being inducted to NAPT’s Hall of Fame several years ago. It may be hard to believe, but this month, the maga- zine celebrates its 25th birthday, I had to pinch myself at the fact that I’ve been around now for 14 of them, considering that back then, my experience riding the school bus was relegated to a few field trips and to and from sporting events.
While at the time my personal path was on a much
different trajectory than that of Bill and Colette, it’s safe to say that for all three of us, the summer of 1991 was filled with a lot of anxiety, sweat and sleepless nights. Mine happened to revolve around surviving two-a-day practices and the anticipation and excitement of my pending senior year. Our football team obviously had great goals, I was looking forward to graduating in the spring and hopefully I’d find a girlfriend. Meanwhile, Bill and Colette were making a fledgling publication survive and spending their retirement accounts to do so. Was I going to win that starting defensive back position? (No.) Was I going to get hurt? (Yes.) Was STN going to survive its first few months in existence? Were
Bill and Colette going to be able to keep their house? (Definitely.) Certainly, STN has undergone many changes over the past quarter-century, especially as the internet has evolved and more and more content is pushed online to capture readership. Te STN EXPO was only a glint in Bill’s and Colette’s eyes back then. Now, the event is gearing up for its own silver anniversary in two years, and of course, we now have the TSD Conference. What else could be on the horizon?
Amid all the goings on, one thing (I think, alas hope) has
remained constant. STN continues to be a trusted industry source for news, trends and analysis. Plus, with the advent of social media, we have helped get the great yellow bus story in front of the masses. And it all started out of the Paul household with a now ancient relic, a 386 computer with a floppy disk drive connected to a thermal printer. Tat might not make much difference to some of you, but in today’s printing world, that’s an artifact that belongs in the Smithsonian. Oh how time flies, yet many things remain so famil-
iar. Several of the stories in the first STN issues could just as well be written today: driver shortages, safety training for the new school year, the release of new bus models and products, state regulation updates. What else has not changed, albeit has gotten a bit younger, are our readers. Certainly very many of you remember receiving issue No. 1 of STN, and we thank you for your continued loyalty. Some of you are newer to the game, so to speak, and it’s our goal to earn your respect each month, as we continue to share great school-bus stories both in print and online that are hopefully in- sightful and inspiring. Keeping doing great things and we’ll continue to report them. Here’s to another 25 years! ●
Ryan Gray, Editor-In-Chief
10 School Transportation News • SEPTEMBER 2016
CELEBRATING25YEARS
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