If your kids take the bus to school, send them with a big smile for their bus driver today.

(Darlene Rowland drives bus #121 for WCPS, she's been driving school bus for 29 years)

It's School Bus Driver Appreciation Day across the province, an opportunity for you and your kids to thank those behind the wheel for going the extra mile to get them to and from school safely every day.

Darlene Rowland has been driving bus for 29 years, the last 17 she's been on the same Wolf Creek Public School route, delivering kids to Mecca Glen School east of Ponoka in the morning and taking high school students on into Ponoka, and returning them at the end of the day.

Rowland explains what influenced her to get behind the wheel many moons ago.

“My bus driver that I had when I was a kid, he was like a really awesome guy, everybody thought really highly of him.  I like kids, I’m a little tough on them, but I have a really, really great bunch of kids on this bus, they chat, they ask me questions and as long as they don’t get too carried away, I’ll answer them”.

Rowland has met her share of kids over the years, and she had no shortage of memories to share, including this story about a young rider who she still giggles about.

“He had to come in for early childhood services, and he was only 4 when he started riding the bus, he was like just a little guy, he sat in the front seat and whenever one of the girls got on the bus and walked by him, he would reach out and pinch them on the behind.  I finally said to him, you know you can’t do that, girls don’t like that, and he goes why not, my dad does it”.

Rowland drives bus #121, and while she notes it often can be loud, she plans to keep on driving for as many years as she can, because she enjoys it so much.

“I like the interaction with the kids, I like to know that I can maybe make a little bit of a difference in their day”, always greeting them with a smile.