Good afternoon, please be seated so we can get started. Thank you. I'm Instructor Nadine Marrero, and I wanted to welcome everyone. And thank you for joining us as we celebrate this outstanding graduating class. Family, friends, staff, management, welcome to the graduation ceremony of Bus Operations Class II of 2026. Before we get started, please, guys, please silence your cell phones. Thank you. Today is a special occasion as we gather to recognize the hard work, dedication, and perseverance of a remarkable group of individuals who have successfully completed their training and are preparing to begin an important journey here at the Department of Transportation Public Works. At this time, please stand and join me in welcoming Bus Class number two, 2026. And give them a chance, let's give it up for each one of them. All right. Good seat, everyone. I'd like to say a few words to our graduates. This achievement presents more than completing a training program. It reflects your commitment to learning, your willingness to take on new challenges, and your dedication to serving our community. As bus operators, you will play a vital role in connecting people to their jobs, schools, families, medical appointments. The work you do will make a meaningful difference in the lives of thousands of passengers. I would also like to acknowledge the instructors, mentors, supervisors, family members, and friends who have supported our graduates through this process. Your encouragement, your guidance, and belief in them have helped make today's accomplishment possible. Graduates, as you move forward in your careers, remember that every interaction is an opportunity to demonstrate professionalism, patience, kindness. You are not only an operator of a vehicle, you are ambassadors of our organization and trusted members of the community. Today we celebrate your success, your determination, and the bright future that lies ahead. Congratulations to each member of Bus Class number two of 2026. Okay? We are proud of your accomplishment and excited to see the positive impact you will make. Okay? With that being said, we have some guest speakers today. So our first guest speaker we're honored to have with us today, a distinguished guest. We like to call him our number one. He's a veteran operator with over 40 years of service. Please welcome Mr. Milton Clark Jr. Good afternoon to all our family, friends, and our dear loved ones. Bus Class number two of 2026. You're looking good. You're not only looking good, but you're good looking. But guess what? If you give me that smile, you could even look better. Let me see your smile. Maybe they're yours. Maybe you bought them. Maybe they're a little dingy. Maybe you're missing a few. But you need that smile. This is the way we meet and greet our passengers on the daily. In and out. Up and back. This is the way we... Let me see that smile. There you go. I see it. I see it. Every day. Now, as of Monday, remember, as you start in your career, remember to drive your career in the right lane to your destination. Thank you. Thank you. And bless you. Thank you, Mr. Clark. Now we have two trainees that have some positive, encouraging words for their classmates. So I'd like to welcome Travanique Townsend and Francisco Grajales. Please come up. And Grajales, come on up. Come. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Travanique Townsend, and I am one of the bus operator trainees, and I am honored to stand before you all. To begin with, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the incredible instructors who made this journey possible for us all. Thank you for your guidance, encouragement, and belief in us every step of the way. I'd like to give a special thanks to our instructors, beginning with our lead instructor, Ms. Janet Gordon, instructor Brown, instructor Smith, and instructor Pojo. If your name wasn't mentioned, don't take it personal. Again, we appreciate you all. To my classmates sitting here today, I'm super proud of each and every one of you. We've all worked hard to get here, going against that clock, trying to beat 7 or 1 a.m. These past 10 weeks wasn't easy, but we showed up and we persevered together, and I'm proud of you all. Today marks the end of one unforgettable chapter and the beginning of something new. I remember the first day of class when this lady walked down with her baseball cap on, and she looked like a drill sergeant who made business with a straight face. There was no radio present. My heart started racing. I got nervous and said, Lord, what did I sign up for? But outside of those feelings, something amazing happened. We formed bonds, we created memories, and we became better within and managing time for sure. This would be the last time we sit together as one class in the same place at the same time. It's bittersweet, but this isn't just a goodbye. It's a new beginning. Behind you are your memories. Before you, amazing opportunities. Around you, all who love you, and within you, all you need. We were all chosen for a reason. Remember to dance. Don't argue about the fair. Acknowledge customers. No cellular devices. Come to work early, because on time it's late, and everything should be done when it's safe to do so. Good afternoon and welcome. Directors, superintendents, instructors, families, and the most important, my classmates. After the hiring process that we went through, to get here to this stage is not easy. It requires early mornings, long hours, memorizing traffic logs, mastering pre-trips, inspections, and becoming a just blind spot through the mirrors, and realizing the immense responsibility that this profession is rolling into our community. Today, these ten weeks, it's coming to an end. This end is the beginning of our professional careers as a boss, as a professional boss operator. But this title, we didn't achieve ourselves. We have to recognize our instructors. All of them, thank you for your kindness and also for guidance with all your infinity passions and dedications. Thank you for teaching us how to share and share all your years of experience, discipline, and wisdom. Thanks for teaching us that the professional boss operator is not defined by the speed, but safety. Thank you for holding us to our higher standards to continue to deliver excellent service to our passengers at every bus stop, along the streets and avenues of each bus stop and route of the Miami-Dade County. Let's be proud to be part of DPTW. And also, we have to thank our families for your constant encouragement and supportings to all when we must need it. This achievement belongs to you as we must as belong to us. Thank you for your attention and a big applause for you all. Thank you for those words. Thank you. Our next speaker I'm going to call up is instructor Rolando Gutierrez with a message from the mayor. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. To our graduates, congratulations on reaching this milestone, joining our transit family. Now I'm going to have the privilege to introduce a special message from Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniela Levine Cava. Hello, everyone. I'm Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniela Levine Cava. And although I could not be there with you in person, I am so proud to mark this special occasion as we graduate new DTPW bus operators. In Miami-Dade, we're building a world-class transit system that matches our world-class destinations. As the home of nearly 3 million residents and millions more visitors, our Department of Transportation and Public Works is a major part of keeping our county running, literally. DTPW bus operators play a vital role in providing transportation options that connect our communities and positively impact lives. I am so incredibly proud of every single one of you graduating today. Thank you for your hearts of service. After nine weeks of training and dedication, you are the new members of our Metro bus fleet. And you are now part of the team that's transforming the way people move and might engage. We couldn't be more thankful for you deciding to join our team. And we still need more employees just like you. So please share the word with your families, friends, and networks. If you know someone this sounds right for, please encourage them to consider becoming part of the team that moves Miami-Dade every day. Being part of this team also means that if you have any questions or concerns, we'd love to hear your solutions. We look forward to your continued feedback. My administration is committed to building equity, increasing transparency, and delivering excellence to the residents of Miami-Dade. Thank you again and congratulations on completing this process. To the drivers graduating today, welcome to the county family. Thank you for literally keeping our county moving. Thank you and I'll see you on the road. Thank you. A quick reminder, please, cell phones on silent, okay? Now, our next speaker is going to be our Deputy Director, Sean Aderson. Hi, good afternoon, everyone. Again, I'm Sean Aderson, Deputy Director here at DTPW. And on behalf of the Director, unfortunately, she could not make it today, but she does send her warm regards and welcomes everyone to our family of 4,400 dedicated men and women who helped move this town. But, you know, I want to sort of leave you with, you know, some remarks. You know, this event, to me, is the best part of what I do. I get to do a lot of different stuff, but this is the best part because you get to welcome dedicated men and women who went through a lot, right? As your classmates eloquently said, it was a journey over the last 10 weeks, right? A lot of things you didn't know we had to do in order to move buses around this town. But this is just the beginning, right? You're joining our family officially, but it is just the beginning. And as you start this relationship, there's this thing that says, hey, in order for relationships to work, they have to sort of be reciprocal. How you treat people is how they'll treat others. And so, as you are beginning this relationship with us, there's three fundamental things that make relationships work. It's trust, it's safety, and it's worthiness. I don't get what those relationships are. If you don't have those three fundamental things, they're not going to work, right? And so, in our relationship, you think about trust. You have to trust that over the last 10 weeks, your instructors gave you everything you needed to know in order to be successful. You have to trust that they've trained you well on how to operate the vehicles, that they've given you all of the rules to the road, how to drive safe, how to do all those things. And in turn, people who get on the bus have to trust you, right? When you get on an airplane, you trust that that pilot or those pilots know how to operate successfully. It's the same thing when you get on a bus. They trust that you know how to do it. And so, you have to make sure that helps. When you talk about safety, everybody that gets on a bus wants to get off the same way they got on, with all their limbs and their same senses, right? So, they are trusting in you that you're going to operate safe, but in the same token, you have to trust that we're going to keep you safe, that we're going to make sure you have a vehicle that operates safely, that we're going to give you all the tools, the training, everything you need, so that you can go accomplish that mission. And then, worthiness. And I think you heard it from the mayor. Everyone in here is just as important as the next. Yes, I have the title of deputy director, but I put my pants on just like you did this morning. No different. All of you are worthy, and that means what you do is worthy of us listening to it. And so, as you are out there operating, and you run across things that we need to improve, we definitely encourage you to come and tell us. It is our responsibility to make sure that you're heard, right? Trust, safe, worthy. Those three things. We give it to you, you'll give it to our riders, right? Last thing I'll leave you with. I heard this quote, and it is very appropriate for this. It says, the difference between success and failure is doing something exactly right or nearly right. To be successful, you have to do it exactly right, not nearly right. So, today, this is the first time you guys got to put on your digs, you're in your greens, you got your ties, you guys all done up. This is exactly how you're supposed to come to work every day. Not putting on a Dolphins hat or a Marlins hat or even if you were a fan of the Knicks, those guys. But, nonetheless, you're on the DTBW team, right? And so, that's how you're supposed to come to work. We're going to give you a schedule that says you got to be on time and you got to come five days a week. Guess how many days you're supposed to come? Five. Five is exactly right. Not four, not three. Five. There's so many things you're going to have to do to be successful in this job. But you can't pick and choose which ones you do. You can't pick and choose which safety rules you want to follow. You can't pick and choose which ones you want to do as it relates to following all the rules. If you do them all, you'll be successful. There's a lot of men and women in this organization who started just like you. The two you're going to hear from behind me started as maintenance and operators. They did it exactly right. And now they run our organization. I'm challenging you to do the same. So, again, welcome, welcome, welcome to our team. We really, really are looking forward to you making great contributions and helping to move 270,000 people every day. Thanks a lot. Enjoy your ceremony. Thank you, Mr. Ederson. Our next guest speaker will be our Assistant Director of Bus Services, Joel Perez. Good afternoon, everyone. It is a great pleasure to have you all here and to see you pass our course and to be able to graduate today. Remember when we saw you the first time and all of you were just getting started and some of you were very concerned on how was this journey going to be. But thanks to your hard work, you have made it through and we're very happy to have you here and very happy to have you be able to serve our community as our bus operators. And that has a lot of value to all of us. Also, we are here to help you. So, as you start this new journey, you're going to have situations where you might not be aware of what to do or you might not remember what they trained you. During that time, please remember all of us are here to help you. You have your bus traffic controllers. You have your street supervisors. These individuals are there to provide you assistance. You also have our instructors at the divisions, our superintendents, and our chiefs. And that is their main responsibility to ensure that you're able to conduct your job every single day and provide a service to our community. So, do not be concerned or afraid to go and ask for help when you need it because that's what's going to determine whether you will be successful or not. So, once again, congratulations and thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Perez. Our next guest speaker will be our general superintendent of bus operations, Snyder St. Preux. Good afternoon, everyone. It's always a pleasure. I always love these type of ceremonies as well, graduation. As a matter of fact, I want to thank the families for coming out, showing support. Like I'll tend to tell a lot of people about me and my wife, right? I just don't marry my wife. I actually marry her and the family, right? So, obviously, you guys are also a part of this. And you guys came here to show support to these individuals. All right. So, class, you guys are looking great. You look really, really good today. But I'm going to leave you guys with this message. There's three A's that I normally use. And I probably told it to you guys on your first day, right? It's attitude, appearance, and attendance. So, attitude is everything. Attitude will actually change your day or it will dictate your day. We stress the importance of customer service. And when you guys come into work, we challenge our supervisors, our bus traffic controllers, to make sure that they give you guys a good attitude. If not, it will impact your day. You go out there driving the bus. We don't want to start your day off rough because those passengers, you don't want to give them an attitude. Some of them are going to get on your bus with an attitude. But like Mr. Clark says, whether it's yours or not, you smile at them. All right. Regardless, you guys still look good with whatever you got in your mouth. All right. So, as it relates to attendance. All right. Attendance is our pet pee here. If you're not at work, you cannot help us. All right. Like we told you guys in training, if you are not there when the bus is scheduled to leave, the bus will leave. All right. But also understand the magnitude of your attendance. If you guys are not here, you cannot help those family members that depend on you. All right. So, you have to be here. There's people that need to get to work, people that need to get to school, people that need to get to church, or wherever they need to get to. And it's really important that you guys show up. And last thing is appearance. People mostly judge you before you even open up your mouth based off of the way you look, your appearance. All right. So, I'm not asking you guys to dress like this every single day, although this is the correct way to dress. But people will judge you based off of your appearance. All right. So, make sure you come to work looking clean, clothes are pressed, and ready to go. All right. I want to throw a special shout out to all of the instructors. I'm always kind of tough on those folks. I appreciate these guys for, you know, this 10 weeks of training new employees. Some of these people never drove a vehicle more than, what, 20 feet or what have you. And they learned. And I think I really appreciate them. And I'm going to give them a round of applause. They're definitely responsible for delivering a good product. And also, too, our HR team. But you know what? While I'm calling my HR team, Miss Nicole Banks, where are you? Nicole? Come here, Nicole. Come on, Nicole. Come on down, Nicole. So, it's going to be, it's going to be very, very rough. Nicole has been a part of DTPW for a while. And Nicole has been responsible for recruiting a lot of bus operators. And this, unfortunately, is her last class that she helped recruit. So, some of y'all, I ain't going to lie, some of y'all drove Nicole crazy. You know, y'all didn't respond to y'all emails on time. Come on. But, Nicole, just wanted to tell you, thank you for everything that you've done for us with the recruitment process. I thank you for your help. And thank you for being a good friend. You know, she used to work at the Miami Heat. She used to give me free sandwiches. Don't tell nobody that. She ain't going to be working there no more. But I appreciate you, Nicole. Thank you, all right? Thank you so much. All right, that's all I have. But make sure you guys are on time on Monday or Sunday, whatever day y'all come to work. Thank you, Mr. St. Pru. Now we are going to have our supervisor of training unit, Mr. Carlos Garcia. How many minutes do I got? Class. One. Class, congratulations. Instructors, you guys, I keep saying that I am fortunate to be their supervisor because I believe truly in my heart that I do have the best instructors from anywhere. I mean, these guys not only work seven to three or eight to four, you can call them seven days a week and they will answer their phone. And I'm sure you guys could all testify that they go way beyond what they have to do to provide that excellent service. And the same way we provide this excellent service to you, we expect you to provide it to them. Okay, the training for the individuals who don't know the training, I have 30 seconds left. The training that we provide includes, it's not only driving, it includes CPR training. The fire department comes down and does that training. It includes target point evacuation, hurricane procedures, American Disabilities Act, how to handle conflicts. It's a lot of training for ten weeks. And it's not always seven to three. Some people got to stay extra if they don't have a CDL. So, but the instructors always step up to the plate and they do a great job. And believe it or not, I didn't really get complaints from this class, which is awesome. So, thank you so much. God bless. Nicole. Thank you, Nicole Banks. Thank you, Mr. Garcia. So, now we're going to do the presentation of the certificates. So, I'm going to ask instructor Franklin Brown and instructor Janet Gordon to please come down. Janet. Good afternoon. Now for the presentation of the certificates of completion. Ms. Leticia McCoy. Calvin Marshall. Tarakesha Kendrick. Antoine Multimore. Alexander Torrealba. Alex Martinez. Ernica Mejija. Terrell Gilbert. Calvin Collins. Lester Boyo Sala. Kyandra Davis. Anthony Burks. Jessica Taylor. Becky Iglesias. Darnell Bloom. Connor Garcia. Brianna Hayden. Alan Dorville. Luis Diaz Paez. Neil Hanson. Franklin Fontaine. Nathaniel Jaboen. Yahweh Yahweh. Yahweh Yahweh. Arthur Reeves. Felipe Garcia. Danny Suarez. Keona Shelby. Michelle Nequa Foster. Larondi Wright. Althea Lucas. Tanaria Terry. Peaches Gray. Gene Felix. Roberto Aviles Arena. Dwayne Brown. Renal Berris. Monique Agard. All right Berris. Francisco Grajales. Northea Strong. And last but certainly not least. Ms. Tabernique Townsend. Congratulations. Please everyone have a seat. We are going to continue. Again, congratulations Bus Class 2 2026. Good job. All right. We are going to continue. Again, congratulations Bus Class 2 2026. Good job. Yeah. At this time, I'm going to call up Instructor Chantel Simpkins. Good afternoon, family and friends. Thank you so much for coming out and celebrating our bus class 2 of 2026. Let's clap it up again. Bus class 2. Bus class 2, please stand. Okay, we're going to go over the professionals bus operators pledge. Guys, please repeat after me. I understand that I'm a public servant for Miami-Dade County. I am here to provide excellent service to the residents and visitors of Miami-Dade County. I promise to always drive safe, turn slow, and scan for pedestrians. I promise to always give the best customer service. I promise to always greet my customers with a smile. I promise to do my part to ensure a safe, clean, efficient, and reliable transportation service. Promise to deliver excellence every day by consistently doing all of the above, and only then will I be considered a professional bus operator. Guys, clap it up for bus class 2 of 2026. You can't do better than that. Congratulations, bus class 2. Thank you. Now, families, we will. Guys, you can go ahead and have a seat now. Thank you. We'll give you guys a chance to take some pictures and stuff before we leave, okay? With the last closing remarks, I'm going to have Instructor Ms. Janet Gordon come up. Good morning. I mean, I'm sorry. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, distinguished guests, instructors, friends, and most importantly, the incredible graduates of bus class 226. It is an absolute honor to stand before you today as we celebrate this fantastic achievement. Today marks the end of an important chapter and the beginning of an exciting new journey for you all. Over the past few weeks, you've all shown dedication, commitment, and determination. You've not only mastered the techniques, the skills needed to operate a bus safely, but you've also demonstrated perseverance, patience, qualities that will serve you well on your road ahead. Operating a bus is no small responsibility. It takes focus and deep sense of care for passengers, pedestrians, and fellow drivers you encounter daily. You've taken on that responsibility with excellence, and today we honor your hard work and perseverance. Behind every bus operator is a story of service. Service to commitment, to the passengers, to the safety. Whether you're driving children to school, helping people get to work, or connecting communities, your role is vital to the daily rhythm of life. Your professionalism and dedication and assurance that every ride is more than just from point A to point B. It's a safe and reliable experience for everyone on board. As you step into the new role, remember that your training has prepared you, not only for the technical challenges, but also for the unexpected moments. Whether you're navigating traffic, common and concerned passenger, or making those split-second decisions in difficult conditions. Trust in your skills that you've learned. Your instructors have equipped you well. Now your turn is to apply those lessons to the real world. But today, let's take a moment to reflect on this accomplishment that you've earned. You've met the challenges head-on and succeeded. I know that each of you will make a meaningful impact, and I have no doubt that you will respect these classes in the training program with pride and professionalism. So to that, bus class 2, 26, congratulations. Congratulations, you're the operators of the future, and the road ahead is full of opportunity. Stay safe, stay dedicated, and always keep moving forward. Thank you, Ms. Gordon. Thank you. With those beautiful closing remarks, Ms. Gordon, thank you. Again, congratulations for all your hard work and dedication. At this time, we're going to go ahead and take some photos. So I'm going to ask management if you can come back up again. And class, I'm going to have you stand, and one row at a time, you're going to come behind them. Okay? Go ahead. Stand up. Give them a chance to come up here, and you guys are going to line up behind them. You want to help me with this? I also have my instructors come down, please, to be part of this photo. Yes. I'm missing instructors. Come on down. If it wasn't for you guys. Thank you, sir. Okay. Now, as we're lining up to take this photo, class, the bus is leaving at 2.40. If you're getting back on that bus, going back to the garage, I'm letting you know we're leaving at 2.40, okay? Get together, guys. Come on. Get in there. Get in there. Come on. And I would like to say one more thing. Ms. Gordon, the lead instructor, is also employee of the month. You let me know. Okay. This is your time. I'm going to give you all 30 seconds. Cell phones only. 30 seconds. Y'all can come closer if y'all won't. 1, 2, 3, 2, 1. Okay. Cell phones down. 10, 6, 3, 2, 1. 10, 6, 3, 2, 1.