Bus driver drops student volunteers off, then helps them renovate room for girl with cancer

Schaumburg High School students' plan last Saturday to make over the bedrooms of an 11-year-old Aurora girl battling cancer and her siblings was based more on a spirit of volunteerism than any carpentry expertise.

Unexpected, but welcome, was the guiding light of Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 bus driver Kevin Thomas, whose only defined responsibility had been to get the group to and from the daylong activity.

But Thomas became the designated MVP by the bedrooms' designer from the organization Special Spaces, which the students were helping out.

“I didn't know that I was going to, I just knew what they were going to do and brought my tools with me,” Thomas said.

The 62-year-old former Army Reserve drill sergeant and AT&T retiree has been driving for District 211 since 2019. He said his carpentry skills were something he learned from his father while growing up in rural Kentucky, and something he still regularly employs outside of his District 211 job.

Senior Peyton Caster had never met Thomas before, but found his willingness to help emblematic of the District 211 staff members he's encountered during his high school years. Thanks to that assistance, he ended the day with better knowledge of the basics of carpentry.

“It would have been much more of a trying day,” Caster said.

Schaumburg High School Principal Brian Harlan was inspired to write to the district's Transportation Director Diana Mikelski upon learning of Thomas' role modeling.

“He was able to contribute in multiple ways, and he was able to lend his expertise to the more challenging aspects of the project including the installation of a chair swing from the ceiling (which, judging from the pictures, was a highlight for the child!), the hanging of many things on the wall, and even installing the wallpaper on an accent wall,” Harlan wrote. “I wanted to highlight the impact that Kevin has had on our students and our communities, and to make sure you knew that the impact they have on our students is recognized and appreciated!”

Mikelski said Thomas' community spirit is widely shared and demonstrated among the district's bus drivers.

“Our drivers are all amazing, not only for completing safe routes every day but also for the extra involvement many of them display,” she said. “They will brag about the star athlete they have on their route or how the team they took won the event or how they are the driver that gets to take a team to state. They immerse themselves into the events and we often get requests from coaches to have a certain driver because they have been ‘bringing them luck.'”

Thomas said it isn't difficult for drivers like himself to feel inspired to help the students.

“It's the best job in the world,” he added. “I enjoy every day I come here.”

District 211 Communications Director Erin Holmes said the dedication Thomas and his colleagues demonstrate is prevalent even as the profession continues to be among those facing a shortage since the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Thomas said that's another area in which current drivers feel compelled to help.

“All the drivers try to step in and make up the difference,” he said.

He added that he and the students who went to Aurora got their reward in the reactions to the finished project by young Abi and her siblings when they came home.

“Both her and her sisters were just ecstatic,” he said. “The students were just thrilled to have the opportunity to do something like this.”

Senior Samantha Freehling said it was especially moving for her because she previously had been the recipient of a bedroom makeover while being treated for cancer and knows how it can help overcome the isolating feeling of such an experience for someone so young.

“I felt very blessed and grateful,” she said.