Theresa Mellen as named School Bus Driver of the Year last month by the South Dakota School Transportation Association (SDSTA) to honor her dedication to student safety in Douglas School District located in Box Elder.
Mellen has only been driving a school bus since 2007 but still has earned a reputation as a safe school bus driver and “a person who genuinely cares about the students she transports,” said Tim Steichen, president of SDSTA.
According to Pete Haugh, Douglas School District’s transportation coordinator, Mellen accepted one of the district’s most difficult routes and turned it into a model for her fellow drivers to follow.
Mellen is also a nationally certified EMT with the local volunteer fire department and is a foster mother who is on-call day or night to receive children in need. She is also a veteran of both the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marines and served tours in Iraq in the 1990s during Desert Storm and Desert Shield.
“The SDSTA is proud to award Ms. Mellen with the honor of South Dakota School Bus Driver of the Year and see her as a shining example of the type of people that dedicate so much of their lives to pupil transportation in South Dakota,” Steichen said.
Association members from private school bus companies, public school districts and Head Start agencies submit nominations each year for the South Dakota School Bus Driver of the Year Award. Additionally, SDSTA awarded four school bus drivers who have served for 25 or more years for districts or bus companies that are members. Those winners were: Dolores Ganschow, Lennox School District, 38 years; John MacDonald, Watertown School District, 25 years; Penny Papka, Watertown School District, 31 years (27 of those years at St. Louis County Schools in Virginia, Minn., before moving to South Dakota); and Don Harrington, Watertown School District, 25 years.
Ganschow also was honored with a retirement certificate as was Gerald Wiles of Watertown.
