Lawanna Bowers has lived in Montgomery County, Tennessee all of her life.  She was married to her late husband for forty-two years.  She has a daughter, a son, three grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Lawanna enjoys attending Blooming Grove Baptist Church in Woodlawn, Tennessee.   In her spare time, Lawanna combines her love for serving others and her passion for cooking and baking by preparing food for family, friends, and members of her community who are in need of a home cooked meal.   Lawanna’s fellow school bus drivers always appreciate and look forward to the homemade treats that she prepares for them.

Lawanna Bowers began her career as a school bus driver for the Clarksville Montgomery County School System in April 1974.  She was assigned a bus route in her community and has been driving the same route for forty-five years. Lawanna feels very blessed to have driven her children and her grandchildren. Currently, Lawanna is thrilled to be driving the children and grandchildren of her former student passengers.  Her dependability, professionalism, and integrity has earned her the respect of her passengers, her fellow school bus drivers, and her supervisors.  Lawanna’s dedication to this school district is evident by the fact that she has driven thousands of students on various field trips and has driven over 773,550 route miles.  After forty-five years of driving a school bus, Lawanna maintains an excellent safety record with no accidents validating her incredible commercial vehicle driving skills.

Since the beginning of her career, Lawanna has seen many changes in the industry.  Years ago, all school buses were straight shift.  These buses had no power steering, no power brakes, and no radio communications.  Lawanna is thankful for the advancements on today’s school buses and she now enjoys driving a school bus equipped with Google internet service that allows students to work on assignments during their commute. 

Lawanna’s student management skills are exceptional and her priority is the safety of her student passengers.   She will not travel down a roadway with student passengers out-of-control on her school bus.  Her student passengers know this and understand her expectations, even reminding each other of these expectations at times.  Lawanna treats her student passengers as if they were her own grandchildren and holds them accountable for their actions. 

Lawanna has had a positive impact on generations of students by not only ensuring they arrive at school safely, but also by helping them develop good character.  One of Lawanna’s favorite things about being a school bus driver is when her former passengers see her in the community and rush over to express their love and respect for her.  After forty-five years of devoted service, Lawanna still enjoys driving students each day and hopes to continue driving a school bus for a few more years.