The February 2009 Trucker Buddy Drivers of the Month are Matthew and Barbara Damm.

Matthew and Barbara are owner operators who drive for Landstar Ranger out of Jacksonville, Florida and have been the Trucker Buddies for Ms Martha Ban’s grades 5-8 social studies class at Browning Elementary School in South Lancaster, Massachusetts.

Ms Bans nominated the Damm’s because they have gone over and above a typical pen pall relationship. They have created a blog to journal their travels, which has “fired up” Ms Ban’s students about geography. Not only is the site informative and interactive but they also post a Geography Question of the Month and as students successfully answer the question, they are placed on the blog Honor Roll. Periodically, the blog has different activities for the students to take part in, one was to draw a picture of a truck, which after the pictures were sent in, the Damm’s scanned them and created an on line photo album.

“I have been so pleased with the interaction of my students and the Damms.” My students email them once a week – and they email them back – each student getting a personal email. There is a saying, “ It takes a village to raise a child.” I am glad that the Damms are part of my students’ “village” says Ms Ban.