The Global Studies and World Languages Academy serves students from various places, so long as they are within the state of Virginia. Bayside, Cox, First Colonial, Green Run, Princess Anne, you name a school and most likely there is a kid zoned for that school in this academy.

The different perspectives students provide is interesting and provides people with the opportunity to become friends with those they might not have been able to meet before. However, the early bus pickup times and late return home makes many students unhappy, but what about the bus drivers?

Bus drivers pick up and drop off students with minimal or no complaint. Thankfully, there wasn’t much my bus driver had to complain about. When I asked her if the long runs affected her other runs she simply said “No, because that’s all I have.” Bus drivers are assigned academy runs, but are not overburdened with many others. For example, my bus driver only has one other run which isn’t really harmed by the rather long academy run before it.

When asked if the academy run affected her personal life at all, as in getting home relatively late or leaving abnormally early, she was pretty happy about her job. “No, it’s my job! It’s like any other job!”

My activity bus driver, however, had a different answer, “If I’m late dropping off, I’m late picking up my kids.” However, as opposed to normal academy runs, the after school academy runs are optional. “It’s not inconvenient because if you don’t have time, you don’t have to take it.”

I can’t speak for all bus drivers, as I only have the opinions of mine, but overall I don’t believe that many bus drivers are really upset about academy runs. The academy runs are assigned and those who get them aren’t given many others. The after school activity runs are optional and if the driver can’t fit it into their schedule, they don’t have to take it.