Staff Spotlight: Carey Cleverly Provides the First Smile of the Day
This post is part of the Lynden Schools Staff Spotlight series
For students riding Carey Cleverly’s bus each day, she provides both the first and last smile of the day from Lynden Schools. That’s just the way she wants it, connecting with students twice a day during her bus route and also teaching new bus drivers the joy of that opportunity.
The Role
Cleverly describes her job as a school bus driver by saying her “main joy and priority is transporting or town’s most precious cargo to and from their destination, safely, whether that be school, home, sporting events or field trips.”
As a driver trainer for the district’s transportation department, she also teaches incoming drivers in the classroom and behind the wheel the skills they need to be successful and safe school bus drivers for Lynden Schools. In that role, she handles the continuing education curriculum for best practices with the “already well-established team of amazing drivers.”
“What I really appreciate most about my job is being able to be the first smile my kids see every morning, warmly greeting each one of them, helping them get the day started on the right foot, as well as the last smile of their school day as I send them on their way home,” Cleverly says. “You never know how something as simple as a smile, warm greeting and just listening or being attentive can impact their day. It has been eye-opening how much you can learn about and connect with a child during a simple bus ride.”
This daily opportunity is how Cleverly builds connections with her “bus kids,” coworkers and the larger Lynden Schools team. “It truly helps me,” she says, “feel as though I am a part of the intricate fabric that shapes this beautiful town we call home.”
Getting to Know Carey
Cleverly’s greatest passion in life is her family. Her “greatest loves” are her husband Chris, oldest son Brendan, a Lynden High School class of 2023 graduate, and her youngest son Alex, “future LHS class of ’35, and yes, you read that right.”
Each one of her family members is by her side as she enjoys attending Seattle Kraken hockey games—she’s a joint season-ticket holder with her dad—attending concerts of various musical genres throughout the year and engaging in her love of nature.
“Often I believe I should’ve gone to school to be a wildlife biologist, but then I remind myself that I’m not a big fan of long, strenuous hikes,” she jokes. And those hikes are required for her to see her most intense interests: bears, wolves, eagles and whales. So, instead of deep woods bear searches, she settles for voting for Katmai National Park fat bears every October with her family.
