Dear Editor,

My name is Chef Dave Collins. I teach hospitality programs at McIntosh County Academy in Darien.

On Tuesday, March 19, I was traveling back from Athens and our FCCLA State Leadership Conference with six students and a chaperone aboard one of our county buses. We stopped at the Mc-Donalds in Wrens to eat lunch. Upon returning to our bus, we discovered that it would not start. Our transportation director contacted the Jefferson County transportation director, Tracy Walden. Within 10 minutes, two of the system mechanics, Mr. James and Mr. Quinn (I regrettably did not get their last names) arrived. They worked on our vehicle for close to an hour.

Unfortunately, it was determined that our starter was bad. We made it home thanks to a generous Liberty County bus driver named Antonio and two FCCLA advisers, Mrs. Kathyrn Snelson (Bradwell Institute) and Mrs. Carla Schaadt (Liberty County Career Academy), who happened to pull up at another location close to us.

If it were not for our Liberty County rescuers, we would have faced a three-hour wait for another bus to come and pick us up and an additional three hours to get home. The Liberty County students were also gracious and welcoming to us as we made them squeeze together to accommodate us.

Needless to say, my students and I were and are grateful to them for their kindness and assistance. These three individuals are terrific ambassadors for the Liberty County School System! A true example of how we should all strive to take care of each other and help whenever we can. Antonio, Mrs. Snelson, and Mrs. Schaadt, thank you again, for helping me take care of my students. It is what we educators do best!

Dave Collins, McIntosh County Academy