DENVER — Every kindergartner at College View Elementary in Denver’s South Platte neighborhood is going home with a brand new bike this summer, and they already know how to ride.
The school was awarded an over $18,000 Climate Champions Grant through the Denver Public Schools Climate Action Team. The money paid for over 60 helmets and bicycles for kindergarten students, and will help fund a twice-a-month bike bus program launching next school year.
The project was pitched by third, fourth, and fifth graders who wrote persuasive essays to bring the program to their school.
A fourth grader summed up the students’ reasoning.
“They’re riding bikes so it doesn’t pollute the environment,” the student said.
Dean of Instruction Nikki Brown said the surprise bike giveaway was the payoff of months of hard work.
“We’ve worked really, really hard for this moment, and the fact that we got to surprise the students, and they all took off without training wheels, was just this magical thing that is like the peak of what we’ve been working on,” Brown said.
Each of the kindergartners learned to ride as part of the school’s curriculum over the past 3 years. P.E. teacher Leanna Belk walked students through every step of the process.
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"We go from balancing a bike the first couple weeks, and then throwing the pedals on, and learning how to stop and break, and bike safety and the importance of helmets, and the way in which we use bikes around town," Belk said.
For Belk, the payoff goes far beyond the classroom.
“The health benefit, the imagination it brings. I think about the things that I did on a bike when I was a kid. It takes you to a whole new world,” Belk said. “It kind of makes me tear up, because it’s a process, and these kids are resilient, and they are confident in this bike riding now. And I hope that carries over into other things in their life.”
Brown said the bike bus program will use a pre-designed route through the neighborhood, with teachers and adult volunteers earning extra duty pay from the grant to keep students safe.
“The idea is that we get kids out of cars and we get them onto bicycles with adult supervision and safety first,” Brown said.
Brown said the ultimate goal is to make biking to school a lasting part of the community.
“Our kids deserve fresh air, they deserve clean air, they deserve community and connection, and bikes is a way for us to do that,” Brown said. “All of our kids know how to ride bikes because of our PE program, and this is just the next step to build a greater sense of community within our neighborhood,” Brown said.
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