This St. Louis Zum bus driver loves her job — and so does her son
Every parent knows how hard it can be to get their child out of bed on a school day. But Eurika Flanigan, a mother of two in St. Louis, says her 7-year-old son has a reason to smile this year: His mom is his bus driver.
“Oh my God, he loves it,” says Flanigan, a Zum driver for Saint Louis Public Schools. “I think that actually wakes him up, just riding around the town, picking up other kids. They’re like his cousins.”
Flanigan has been driving a school bus for nine years, but this is her first year with Zum. (Zum launched its partnership with SLPS in the fall.) She takes pride in her work, whether it’s transporting children with special needs or being able to communicate with students of all ages, from elementary to high school.
“I was one of them. It’s nothing that they’re going through that I haven’t experienced,” she says. “They all bring out a different superpower, and that amazes me.”
Flanigan makes sure to greet every single kid on her bus with a smile — something she knows can make a difference, since she didn’t always experience that when she was their age.
“I learned that with consistency, any kid will pick up on it. So they’re like, ‘She cares, and she doesn’t even know me.’”
She adds, “I got a kid whose first five weeks at school were horrible. One day, he said, “Bus Driver, I had a good day.” I said, ‘You did? Well, you know what? The bus driver’s got some candy for you. Keep going!’ Every day since then, he’s been reporting in, and I feel like we got a mission that we’re trying to accomplish.”
Flanigan says it helps that she feels appreciated at work, where she’s supported and has built friendships with her coworkers.
“I’ve known a couple of the dispatchers, Victor and Yolanda, for the whole time that I’ve been driving a school bus,” she says. “And (managers) Jean and Shane — those two don’t just make it a job, they make it a family. We’re with a company that cares, supports us financially, mentally … everything that you can ask for. It gives you a happy feeling about going to work.”
“Eurika has been such a great addition to the team,” says Jean Gordils, Zum’s Location Manager in St. Louis. “She’s always ready to jump in and help wherever needed, and it already feels like we’ve been working together for years.”
As the school year continues, Flanigan will also continue doing what she does every day: Checking in on her students, listening to them, and being a consistent and positive presence in their lives.
“Those little moments … they build you,” she says. “It makes me feel proud not only as a bus driver, but as a mom myself.”