An unlikely tandem.
A friendship was formed with an unexpected person when Mr. Charles, a school bus driver for Berkeley County School District, met Kameron, a Cane Bay Elementary student who has just finished kindergarten.
Kameron is the second pickup and drop-off of Mr. Charles during weekday mornings and afternoons out of the 70 students who regularly ride the bus.
Though kindergarten was not a good start for Kameron.
His mom, Kelly Eisenberg, said, “We found that he was having a lot of negative behavior issues that landed him in the principal’s office several times a day almost every single day.”
When Mr. Charles noticed Kameron’s behavior, he knew he needed to step up and help the kid.
The start of a great friendship.
“I said, ‘Look, you my little buddy,'” said Mr. Charles in an interview. And I said, ‘We’re going to do this together and every day that you be good, Mr. Charles is going to have a prize for you on a Friday,'” he further added.
Since that conversation, changes in Kameron’s behavior were noticed, and they were all positive.
Stephanie Williams, one of Kameron’s teachers and a special education teacher at Cane Bay Elementary, was one of the people who noticed Kameron’s improvements.
“And ever since that day, there’s not been a problem,” Williams shared.
“He’s been fantastic and wonderful. Trying new things,” she explained.
Eisenberg felt relieved knowing that her son has been doing great and that he is safe with Mr. Charles.
“It’s like night and day,” Eisenberg told the news agency in an interview.
“And all it took was one special person to give Kameron a little bit of his time and it just made all the difference in the world, for both Kameron and ourselves,” she added.
Mr. Charles switched school districts to drive for Berkeley County, and the reason was for a new environment.
He did not know that it had a greater purpose, through his friendship with Kameron.
“He’s very special to me and I’m just hoping that it’ll always be that way,” Mr. Charles shared in an interview.
Williams also told the news that in her 20 years of teaching, the common scenario is that teachers are partnered with kids for mentorship.
“I’ve never seen an instance where one child’s attitude, behavior, and outlook on everything has completely done a 180 like Kameron’s did with Mr. Charles,” she explained further.
They regularly have Mcdonalds and ice cream dates.
Mr. Charles even went as far as attending to Kameron’s baseball games on weekends.
Talk about commitment.
Both of them have plans to continue their routine over the summer before going back to their regular school bus rides in the fall.
“He told me a couple of months ago, ‘I want you to drive my bus in Elementary, Middle School, and High School,'” Mr. Charles mentioned in an interview.
He answered that as long as Kameron’s there, he will.
Such a great story of an unlikely friendship that will surpass time, as long as Mr. Charles is there, Kameron will always have a buddy to share all his adventures.
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