At the end of the school year and the beginning of the summer season, I wondered what I’ll be doing for work. My main role with the Bicycle Coalition and with Safe Routes Philly is to go from school to school and teach 5th graders safe and responsible bicycling. With school out of session, what was there to do?
Breen, our Education Director, quickly consoled me and said, “I’m sure we’ll find something for you.” How little I knew at the time of what the Bicycle Coalition could muster. This past summer turned out to be deliciously challenging, incredibly fun, and busy, busy, BUSY!
The summer started off with a full schedule of lessons to visit different summer camps throughout Philadelphia. Thanks to Jean Hunt and others from the Philadelphia Recreation Department, 385 children from 13 summer rec camps in the North, Northwest, South, Southwest, and West Philly areas were able to have our lesson in bicycle safety. I remember the commute on some of those days being beautiful, sunny summer days, and others in complete downpours with rain drops as big as my hand. Nevertheless, their trusty bike safety guy arrived on time and ready to teach regardless of weather conditions!
Two other special days included a lesson at New Foundations Summer Camp and at GirardCollege for a lesson with the Cadence Cycling Association.
Tiffany Searles of New Foundations invited both me and my colleague Megan Hanner – our bicycle and pedestrian curriculum creator extraordinaire – to come teach our “Egg Drop” post lesson along with our bicycle safety lesson! With eggs in ziplock bags, we had students place the eggs in Styrofoam cups (representing helmets). When dropped, many eggs remained intact! We then had them drop eggs without the Styrofoam cups. Megan counts to three and the students synchronously drop their eggs. What comes after was a unanimous exclamation of 35 students screaming “WOAAAHH!!!” The eggs were smashed. The kids visibly saw the difference between wearing a helmet and not wearing a helmet.
Cadence Cycling Foundation and Safe Routes Philly teamed up with a lesson for the cycling team on safe and responsible bicycling. Cadence is doing an awesome job in creating opportunities for youth through cycling! They are making young boys and girls into young athletes all over Philadelphia and Camden. Team cycling and racing is much different from street cycling. We had a fresh, engaging, and in depth conversation about just that.
For more information on the Cadence Cycling Foundation, visit www.cadencefoundation.org.
We were also requested by two summer camps to host a bicycle rodeo for their students. The first one was at Cohocksink Rec Center in Port Richmond, and the second at Northern Liberties Arts Camp. What a pleasure it was to see so many smiles! Check out our pictures!!
Lastly, our summer endeavors culminated with a new event which was hosted by Safe Routes Philly known as Safe Routes Philly Family Phest. Family Phest was held on the day before Bike Philly at Eakins Oval (in front of the Art Museum) an event that offered kids a chance to develop their bicycling skills, and a time for parents to connect with Philly-wide organizations that help promote healthy family living. As a first-year event, we were unsure of how the turnout would be, but in the end, we had nice showing of children and families! What a fun day. Check the pictures! The foundation has been set for years to come.
A busy summer, but wow…it was a great one! Now that we’re back in the school year, I’m back to visiting schools throughout Philadelphia. Here’s to over 450 children that are now safer in the streets of Philadelphia.
Lessons are available for FREE to 5th grade classrooms in every Private, Parochial, and Charter School in Philadelphia! If you or someone you know would like us to visit a school, please contact Cy@bicyclecoalition.org. For public elementary schools, check here to see what's in store for you!
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