From the start of the last school year, Saanvi Vangapalli anticipated her role as safety patrol captain at McNair Upper Elementary School in Herndon, Virginia, wouldn’t be simple.
Vangapalli had the unpopular role of making sure everyone on board a packed bus was following the rules, something that proved challenging in the case of two brothers. She tried to reason with them and explain the importance of following the safety procedures, but it took a lot of time before they truly understood what they should and shouldn’t do.
They eventually started listening to directions, Vangapalli said, and she felt proud that she had an impact on someone else’s life.
That persistence helped Vangapalli earn recognition as a Safety Patroller of the Year by the American Automobile Association, becoming one of two Fairfax County Public School students to secure the honor.
“I really wanted to help others and make a difference, and I thought that helping the community would be something I felt really proud of,” Vangapalli said.
As a bus patrol, Vangapalli helped students get on and off the bus and ensured they were safe for the ride home at the end of the day. She also emphasized consequences like what could happen if a student ate or drank on a bus and it abruptly stopped.
“When you make small efforts, it adds up to a big difference,” Vangapalli said.
Meanwhile, Kristen King, who also earned the honor, knew she wanted to be a safety patrol since she was in kindergarten. She noticed how the patrols walked around with their neon patrol belts, and “they would be all high and mighty. I’d be like, ‘I want to be that when I grow up.'”
So, that’s exactly what happened.
As a sixth grader at Canterbury Woods Elementary School in Annandale, King’s task was making sure everybody got on the correct bus. She carried a clipboard and had lists, and she’d have to manage which kids were on the bus, which were absent, and those who should have been on a bus but weren’t.
The school campus also has elementary programming for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. So, in kindergarten, King learned how to sign words such as “yes,” “no,” and “stop.” By fourth and fifth grade, she wanted to learn more so her peers would be able to communicate with her. She often asked interpreters in her class for tips.
“I just did it so the deaf and hard-of-hearing kids would be more comfortable asking me, and since I was always there, then they wouldn’t have to be shy or timid,” King said.
King recalled helping a confused kindergartner who pointed to her bus number on a sign outside one day. King walked her to the right bus, and the bus driver asked if she could escort the student every day.
She did that for a few weeks before gaining the confidence to do it on her own, “and it was cool, because she didn’t communicate with anybody else except the interpreters. It was cool that I got to talk with her for that little time,” King said.
Working as a safety patrol is “a stressful job, but you’re making an impact,” King said.
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