Enrollment: 42,662

Grades: 7-12

Superintendent: Jesus M. Gandara

Address: 1130 Fifth Ave., Chula Vista

Web site: www.sweetwaterschools.org

Profile: Kathleen Bends steered thousands of pounds of metal within inches of concrete barriers with the clock ticking to finish second in the “School Bus Rodeo,” a statewide bus-driving competition in Sacramento.

“It's a lot of fun,” Bends said of the Memorial Day weekend event.

Bends has been a Sweetwater Union High School District bus driver for six years and competed in the rodeo five times. The competition is divided into regions.

First, there is a San Diego rodeo, followed by a Southern California competition and finally the statewide showdown. The first-place finisher goes on to compete nationally.

“I'm really trying for nationals,” Bends said. “First place is the goal.”

One part of the competition involves stopping the bus and putting up a stop sign for kids to cross the street. Meanwhile, judges go through a checklist and take away points for infractions.

“A lot of people think the hardest part of driving a bus is transporting 50 kids at one time. But it really isn't,” Bends said. “The hardest part is dealing with the public who doesn't really take us seriously. We transport all these kids, and when our red lights go on and our stop signs come out, they don't really obey us.

“This year someone ran my stop sign and a girl was almost hit, and it really scared me. I mean really scared me. That's the hardest part is just keeping that safety zone around my bus.”

Bends drives a 40-foot-long bus, but in the rodeo she operated a 29-foot-long bus used to transport students with special needs. There are different divisions in the rodeo for different bus sizes. In the special-needs division, Bends was partnered with Sara Carrillo, another Sweetwater district driver who rode along and assisted with loading and unloading wheelchairs.

“Win or lose, the whole idea of the school bus rodeo is to sharpen your skills for your daily drive,” Bends said. “I can put my bus just about anywhere now because I have sharpened my skills through competition.”

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