Trucker Buddy News
Trucker Buddy news
Driver makes every student feel special
Frank Nathanson was selected to be the May ACS MultiMedia Trucker Buddy Driver of the Month for going above and beyond in furthering the education of the third grade students in Deborah Penney’s classroom at John S. Hobart Elementary School in Shirley, NY.
“Frank sends each child their own postcard from different parts of the United States,” Penney said. “He gives the children clues on them as to where he is. Then we have to guess to see if we are correct.”
Nathanson has been a Trucker Buddy to Penney’s class for the past two years. In addition to sending postcards every week from places he has been, he also has built a Web site especially for his class.
“Frank has created a Web site just for us! It’s terrific!” Penney said. “He has posted pictures of my classes there. He also scans the children’s letters that he has received and posts them on the Web site with his responses.”
The class was thrilled when Nathanson was able to visit last fall. “We got to interview him and learned lots of interesting information about him,” said student Elizabeth. “He can even speak five languages.”
Nathanson, a Trucker Buddy since 2005, lives in Staten Island, NY, and has been an owner-operator leased to Swift Transportation for four years. During that time he has received safe driving certificates all four years.
Despite technical skill on the Internet and the ability to converse in a number of languages, Nathanson sticks to the basics, teaching the children about safety on the road.
Nathanson has also given the children items from the Trucker Buddy merchandise store such as the CAT Scale Beanie Friends, pencils and erasers, rulers and postcards. Each Trucker Buddy Driver of the Month receives a personalized jacket, along with a check for $300 to spend on the class and $200 in Trucker Buddy merchandise, compliments of program sponsor ACS Multi-Media Advertising.
Nathanson is among some 3,500 other professional drivers who share their time with elementary classes throughout the world. The only criteria to be a Trucker Buddy is to be a professional truck driver with a CDL who is willing to send a postcard each week to a class in grades two through eight. Drivers and teachers can find out more about the Trucker Buddy program by going online to www.truckerbuddy.org or calling 1-800-MY-BUDDY.
Photo caption:
Frank Nathanson with Deborah Penney’s third grade class.
|
 |
|
