With all of the national media’s attention focused on former President Trump’s impeachment trial beginning Tuesday afternoon, it may be a good time to take a step back and appreciate the deeds of an everyday person who is doing something great for his community.
Tommy Bolger is an elementary school principal in Anderson County, South Carolina. And every morning for the past six weeks, he has been picking up and dropping off high school, middle school and elementary school in his county in his second job...as a school bus driver.
Bolger explained why his services were needed driving kids to and from school, telling WTVD, "There was a shortage of bus drivers through no fault of their own."
Rather than relying on others to solve the problem, he decided to take matters into his own hands and pick up the slack. In addition to his regular job running an entire school, beginning at 6 a.m., he also drives over an hour-long route each day, ending when he drops off students at Wren Elementary School, where he is the principal. He then repeats the process in the afternoon to take students home.
Principal Bolger explained what educators such as himself all across the country are still doing to make it through the nearly year-long COVID-19 pandemic, saying, "All our educators all over the country, we're just doing stuff we have to, that we've normally never done."
When asked why he made his decision to help with bus driving, rather than toot his own horn, he responded with a simple, “I love driving and I love kids, so why not?”
This is another great example of an American who is stepping up to help others during some of the most trying times the nation has seen in recent history.
Fortunately for this principal, he will only have to continue his second job for a few more weeks as the county is expecting new trainees to step into the vacant bus driver jobs.
Thank you for helping those students you care so much about, Principal Bolger.