Verlene Wilson a third and fourth grade teacher at Cornerstone Christian Academy in Post Falls, Idaho, has nominated her Trucker Buddy Michael Schueller for the Outstanding Trucker Buddy Award. Schueller is from Rathdrum, Idaho, and drives for Alaska West Express based in Anchorage, Alaska.
“I would like to nominate Trucker Buddy, Michael Schueller for outstanding driver. He has been the Trucker Buddy in my classroom for five years. Faithfully he has sent over 500 postcards and pictures to the kids during this time. He personally writes letters to the kids at least 6 times per year,” said Wilson. “Our Trucker Buddy is loved by all the kids that have had him as their Trucker Buddy. He is known for bringing cookies to the class each time he visits. Each year he brings his truck for the students to tour, a highlight of their year. One lucky student gets to honk the horn! We invite him to go on field trips with us, which he faithfully does when he is in town.
“Mr. Schueller has no kids of this own, so he has adopted our class. His wonderful wife, who often accompanies him, is now fighting cancer. In spite of this he has voiced that he wants to continue to be our Trucker Buddy this year. He deserves to be honored as a special Trucker Buddy.”
Trucker Buddy International, an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, often called the number one trucking image campaign in North America, helps educate schoolchildren and introduces educators to the trucking industry. This gives them the world through the eyes of a professional truck driver. The Trucker Buddy program helps to educate and mentor schoolchildren via a pen pal relationship between professional truck drivers and students from kindergarten through eighth grade supervised by their teachers.
After an extensive screening process, the professional truck drivers are matched with a class and are directed by a teacher. Drivers share news about their travels with their assigned class, while students write letters and send pictures to their classroom driver. Students’ skills in reading, writing, geography, mathematics, social studies and history are enhanced, and learning is made fun.
Since 1992, Trucker Buddy International has helped educate more than a million schoolchildren and introduced them to caring, compassionate professional truck drivers. The on-going success of the program is due to driver volunteers, participating teachers and the contributions of sponsors. There is no cost to the drivers or teachers to participate in the program. The Trucker Buddy program is funded entirely by sponsorships and donations.
Outstanding Trucker Buddy award is sponsored by Freightliner, Detroit, Alliance Parts, Meritor and Progressive Insurance.
