Making a difference sometimes starts with learning someone\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
When Al Sletten picks up students on bus number 40 in the early hour of a school day, he first greets them by name \u2014 every single one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey all have their own unique personalities and I just ask them what their name is right away, then I try to remember it,\u201d Sletten said, sitting behind the wheel of his bus.<\/p>\n
Those around him know there\u2019s more to it than just that.<\/p>\n
During September\u2019s school board meeting, Superintendant Mark Miller carved out time for a \u201cspotlight on success\u201d and gave Sletten the district\u2019s first Fred Award. The concept behind the award, Miller explained, stems from a national best-selling book by Mark Sanborn, \u201cThe Fred Factor.\u201d In the book, which Miller read an excerpt from, a character named Fred epitomizes \u201ca role model for anyone who wants to make a difference in his or her work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller saw first-hand the difference Sletten makes on his route as a First Student bus driver for the Juneau School District. Miller asked Kevin Hansen, First Student location manager, if he could ride along with students on a bus for the first day of classes this year to really get that \u201cfirst day\u201d experience. Little did he know how much of the day could be affected by a bus ride.<\/p>\n
\u201cAl the bus driver picked me up and we drove all the way out as far as you can go on North Douglas,\u201d Miller recalled from his trip with Sletten. \u201cWe waited for 15 minutes because \u2018Fred,\u2019 I mean, Al, is always on time.\u201d<\/p>\n
What happened next caught Miller by surprise. Sletten greeted his first rider by first and last name, asked about her older sister, then headed out for his next stop. There, the child didn\u2019t come out right away, so Sletten checked to see what was going on. He saw the mom\u2019s car was missing and knew she must have wanted to take her kid to school for the first day. This type of personalized treatment carried on for the entire morning, but it didn\u2019t end when the students stepped onto school grounds.<\/p>\n
As Miller exited the bus at Gastineau Elementary School that morning to speak with the principal, he saw Sletten walking in, too. He had two book bags with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said \u2018These two kids\u2019 \u2014 and he called them by name \u2014 \u2018left these bags on the bus on the first day of school. We can\u2019t have that,\u2019\u201d Miller said. \u201cHe goes, \u2018I\u2019ll go check in the playground,\u2019 came back without the two bags, nodded his head and said, \u2018time for me to go on my second route to pick up the high school kids.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Hansen was none too surprised to find out Miller was impressed by his driver\u2019s work. He said he selected Sletten for Miller\u2019s ride-along because Sletten has history of excellence that exemplified all the drivers of First Student.<\/p>\n
Even Hansen had to admit, however, that Sletten was more than just an average bus driver. Last year, Sletten never missed a day of work, and he passed the lesson of punctuality down to the students, getting them to school on time every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this 20 years in numerous states, and if we had a bunch of Al\u2019s, our job would be easy,\u201d Hansen said.<\/p>\n
If you ask Sletten, it\u2019s the kids that make the work easy. He talks about them, by first name of course, with a smile on his face. Many students have been on Sletten\u2019s bus since their first day of kindergarten, then he is reunited with them during their senior year. He\u2019s a big part of their day, and it\u2019s no wonder that every year he\u2019s asked to sign yearbooks and the back of school portraits.<\/p>\n
This friendly relationship, Hansen said, is based on the respect Sletten demonstrates toward students. He gets it as much as he gives it out, which is plenty. In fact, Sletten treats the kids on his bus much like a parent might treat their children \u2014 passing out life lessons whenever the opportunity arises.<\/p>\n
\u201cI (did) little things for them and they wouldn\u2019t say \u2018thank you,\u2019\u201d Sletten said, recalling treats he gave out last year for his students. \u201cSo I said, \u2018Well, we need to learn some manners here.\u2019 And so this year every single one of them, if they do anything fun (on the bus), they\u2019ll say \u2018thank you.\u2019 They really catch on quick.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Sletten and other bus drivers provide for students is more than just a bus ride, Hansen said: it\u2019s a quality start and end to every school day that impacts the entire learning experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really neat to see the district (and) First Student working together, you know, showing that unity,\u201d Hansen said about Sletten\u2019s award.<\/p>\n
Sletten isn\u2019t the only one memorizing names. The kids show him the same respect.<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday I saw three kids at Foodland, one of them selling Cub Scouts cookies with his dad. His name\u2019s Kevin, and he goes \u2018Hi, Al,\u2019\u201d Sletten said. \u201cThen I saw another one. Her name\u2019s Katie, and she was with her mom, and she goes, \u2018Hi, Al.\u2019 I kind of like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or at paula.solis@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Making a difference sometimes starts with learning someone\u2019s name. When Al Sletten picks up students on bus number 40 in the early hour of a school day, he first greets them by name \u2014 every single one. \u201cThey all have their own unique personalities and I just ask them what their name is right away, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":5610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-5609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5609"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=5609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}