Truck.Net

Ms. Darlene Thrall, fifth grade teacher at Mooresville Intermedia School, in Mooresville, NC nominated Mike Schultz for Trucker Buddy of the Month. "Mike has been a tremendous asset to my classroom this year. He has taken the time to send biweekly Newsletters that let us know where he has been, which we plot on a map, what his loads have been, and how they might impact us, and he includes pictures of the landscapes, including interesting tidbits of information about the area, and our favorite-pictures of his dog, Pilot."

Mike takes the time to write to all the students individually and answers all their questions. He tells the student about his racing hobby, which they love, his horses, and what he does in his free time. Ms. Thrall says, "The kids look forward to his letters and are always anxious to write to him! What an accomplishment-kids wanting to write!"

The students were thrilled when Mike brought his truck and his dog, Pilot to their school. The also like wanted him to become the Trucker Buddy of the Month because he sends letters to Ms. Thrall for each of the children.

Trucker Buddy International, an independent, non-profit 501(c) (3) organization, often called the number one trucking image campaign in North America, has helped educate schoolchildren and introduce educators to the trucking industry.  This gives them the world through the eyes of a professional truck driver.  The Trucker Buddy program helps to educate and mentor schoolchildren via a pen pal relationship between professional truck drivers and children in grades 2-8 as supervised by their teachers.

After an extensive screening process, the professional truck drivers are matched with a class and as directed by the teacher, drivers share news about their travels with their class. Students write letters and send pictures to their drivers. Students' skills in reading, writing, geography, mathematics, social studies, and history are enhanced and learning is fun.

Since 1992, Trucker Buddy International has helped educate over a million schoolchildren and introduced them to caring, compassionate men and women, professional truck drivers.  The on going success of the program is due to driver volunteers, participating teachers and the contributions of sponsors.  There is no cost to the drivers or teachers to participate in the program. The Trucker Buddy program is funded entirely by sponsorships and donations.