Trucker Buddies Continue to Have a Positive Impact on Students
Although Bill and Lynne Ballantyne's hectic lifestyle as a husband/wife trucking team keeps them extremely busy and on the road most of the year, they still find time for Ms. Carver's second grade class. This will be the second consecutive year that they have been her class' "trucking buddies". Last year, the couple sent over a hundred pieces of mail (ranging from postcards to personalized letters), visited the class several times during the year, and read to the students.

This year has already started off with a visit to all second grade students by the couple showing off their truck and telling about their job and highway safety. They also brought one of their trucking companions, a Pomeranian dog named Sissy, to share during the class' reading theme on pets. They purchased atlases again for Ms. Carver's students to aid in map skills. The students really enjoy reading the postcards and looking up cities where they have traveled. Included in each postcard are facts about the state and city. The students not only learn map skills, but geography and history facts are shared. Overall, the students writing improves also, as they spend time communicating back to them.

Ms. Carver states, "Having the Ballantyne's as `trucking buddies' has been a wonderful experience. The kids enjoy receiving the postcards and letters, and it's another tool to make learning fun." The Ballantyne's have a computer on their truck, and they write an average of two times a week. They have been previously nominated and were accepted into the Highway Angel Program, which recognizes worthy individuals for random acts of kindness. One such act involved saving another trucker's life. They have lived in Douglas since December 2000, and when not on the road, they enjoy the mild climate and friendliness of this community. Ms. Carver and her students truly enjoy having such a caring couple as their other "partners" in education.(1170)