NBC10’s Brenna Weick takes a ride with Middle Township, New Jersey, school bus driver Herman Cruse to see how he inspires the students he drives to read on the bus and in the classroom. “Maybe I can help read with them,” Cruse said.
Middle Twp., NJ – Herman Cruse starts his day at 6:30 a.m., first picking up kids bound for high school, then middle school and finally elementary school in Middle Township.
He high fives the kids as they board his bright yellow bus, tells them to put on their seatbelts and gets them safely to their destination. Later, he picks up those same students and brings them home. It’s exactly what you’d expect of a school bus driver.
But how he spends his time between routes sets him apart from the rest.
“Over the years I would always find various ways to occupy my time,” Cruse said. “Some days I would go to the library, some days I would go to the gym, some days I would take a nap in my car.”
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Cruse says most bus drivers in the district live close enough to go home between the morning and afternoon shifts. He lives too far to make it worth the drive. One day he overheard a conversation that would change his days for the better.
“One day I had an interaction with one of my students that I drive on the bus, and I overheard a conversation with he and his teacher," Cruse said. The student was struggling to read, and a lightbulb turned on in Cruse’s mind and he pitched his idea.
“I let the teacher know that the following week I could come in during my break and read with him,” Cruse said. “And that pretty much started everything.”
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Cruse began a program called “Mr. Herman’s Kids,” volunteering his time three days a week to help students of Elementary 1 and 2 learn to read. He works with kids for about two hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
“As much as I read and interact with them, the floodgates of communication, the floodgates of friendship, has just opened up,” he said. “In long term, it helps them become better students in the classroom, better citizens in their neighborhood, better children to their parents.”
Cruse sees his role not only as a sort of volunteer teacher, but as a mentor.
“It’s just a whole host of roles that I play,” Cruse said. “The light that I see in their eyes when I come in and read with them, I’m not gonna say that it wasn’t there, but the light has shone brighter since our time with Mr. Herman’s Kids.”
Cruse hopes his story will encourage others to volunteer their time wisely, and find a way to fill a need in their community.
“This is the best way and the ultimate way, the most rewarding way for me to kill the time that I have between shifts,” Cruse said. “I won’t take it for granted. I’m thankful for it and I continue to bask in it.”
