When a high school student spotted his own school bus broken down by the side of the road, he quickly decided he couldn’t let a good opportunity go to waste. Instead, he pulled over and gave the familiar bus driver a surprise he wasn’t expecting.
Gavin Natti, a Massachusetts high school junior at Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School in Danvers, was on his way home from the doctor on an otherwise ordinary Wednesday when he noticed a familiar school bus in trouble. The bus had broken down along the side of a highway, and it wasn’t just any bus. It was the very bus Gavin regularly rode to school, and it prompted him to stop.
Of course, Gavin’s bus driver was understandably surprised to see one of his regular riders pulling up, and he was about to be even more surprised when the high school student offered to help in a way the driver wasn’t expecting. Gavin didn’t want to call the police or a mechanic, and he wasn’t stopping to ensure the bus didn’t get hit. Instead, Gavin told the driver he thought he could fix the bus.
Gavin happened to be in the school’s automotive program, and he had identified the problem. The bus was overheating and a frayed serpentine belt was to blame. What’s more, Gavin believed he could replace the belt himself.
“The bus had overheated. I saw that it was my bus driver, surprised seeing one of his students,” Gavin Natti recalled. “We lifted up the hood and I saw that serpentine belt — that runs the water pump, it runs the fan, everything to make that bus run and stay running — was basically torn in half.”
The bus driver had already radioed the school district’s head bus mechanic, but quickly radioed back, telling the district that the student wanted a chance to fix the issue.
“My dispatch told me about the student on scene, and she was pretty excited for him to give it a try,” the school’s head bus mechanic, Jay Weaver, told WBZ News. “So I said, ‘Alright, I’ll give him a little bit.'”
After getting the green light, Gavin got to work, trying to find a replacement part. Unfortunately, he was unable to find the proper belt from a local store, but the school district wasn’t going to let this real-life learning opportunity go to waste. Instead, the school’s head mechanic brought Gavin the belt and let the student finish the job.
The following day, Gavin Natti rode the very bus he had repaired to school, according to The Blaze. Once there, he was met by his proud automotive teacher, who happily sang the teen’s praises.
“We teach everything from brakes, suspension, to check engine lights,” automotive teacher Brooks Clarke explained. “The education the students receive here allows them to go directly out into the workforce. Gavin exemplifies what it means to be a model student and a good citizen.”
How many high school students would stop to help fix their broken-down school bus on the side of the road? Sadly, many would drive past, and some might even point and laugh. Those who would hope to help might not have the expertise. However, thanks to a good old-fashioned tech program, Gavin Natti had been equipped with real-life know-how that allowed him to come to his bus driver’s rescue.
While we don’t want to take away from the applause Gavin’s character deserves, his story also reminds us that trade school programs, which are often underrated, provide opportunities and education that allow students like Gavin to succeed. Wanting to help as many people as possible, Gavin said he hopes to start his own automotive business when he graduates. Thanks to this technical school offering programs like automotive — combined with Gavin’s good nature and determination — those dreams can come true without costly college debt.
