The Little White Bus

I’m sure we all have mental lists of things we'd like to accomplish before we die. I've just taken one big nerdy step and gone ahead and assigned random numbers to different ones.

Goal 65: Go skydiving. Check. I jumped out of a plane during my Sophomore Summer.
Goal 17: Visit all 50 states. I still have 23 to go, although there is an on-going debate on whether or not airport stop-overs count.
Goal 3: Learn to whistle. Oops, still waiting on that one.

Where is this going you ask?

Goal 18: Drive a school bus. Check!

Since October, I have been driving a white Dartmouth mini-bus on Friday afternoons. Yes, I know how tragic it is that it's not yellow, but even so, I finally get to play with all the cool toys up front, like the lever that opens and closes the door. And yes, I've gotten too excited and closed the door on people while they were still entering. And yes, I probably command about as much authority as your school bus drivers did … meaning, not much.

The reason I've found myself behind the wheel of my dream vehicle (can you imagine "Pimp My Ride" with a school bus? Have they done that already? Imagine driving that to school everyday!) is that I've gotten involved in a Dartmouth program called the Outdoor Leadership Experience. OLE, as it's lovingly called, serves as a mentoring and after-school program for a neighboring middle school. Every Friday, a few other Dartmouth students and 8-10 seventh and eighth graders put their lives in my hands as we pick them up from their school, take them on some sort of outside adventure (ice skating, hiking, and helping to build the Winter Carnival Snow Sculpture come to mind), and then return them to their school at 6 PM so their parents can pick them up.

OLE is as rewarding and fun as my bus driving is horrendous, which is saying a lot because at last count, I've gotten lost twice and run over two curbs (Hey, this rig makes wide right turns!). I’ve also gained some big-time appreciation for everybody out there who drives a real yellow bus for a living.

And although it can be nightmare, there’s nothing else that I’d rather be driving. Okay, I guess there is one thing …

Goal 142: Drive a Zamboni.