BROADWAY HIGH BRINGS IT WITH ECO2SCHOOL

If you’ve been following our bike education news, you know about all the work we do with elementary and middle school students through the Safe Routes to School program. But what, you might wonder, happens when these kids become high schoolers? Never fear, Eco2School is here!Eco2School, the Center for Climate Protection’s youth leadership program, provides high school students with the tools and support they need to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The primary focus is on promoting biking and walking for transportation, as the biggest cause of rising air pollution is single-occupant cars. With college and employment in their near future, participating high school groups are not only focused on promoting active transportation to and from school – they also aim to promote long-term behavior change.Broadway Continuation High School in San Jose has been an enthusiastic Eco2School participant since SVBC took on the program in 2015. Since then, SVBC staff has been working with Broadway’s student leadership class to take detailed surveys of students’ transportation habits, as well as organizing “lunchtime funtime” activities like the smoothie bike blender, trivia games, and tiny bike races.Recently, Broadway’s student leadership class and their teacher, Miss Hawkins, organized a day of active transportation education for their P.E. and Health classes. They studied the proposed curriculum, made some tweaks here and changes there, and voila – the presentation was lit! It sparked lots of interesting discussions with the students, who continued to share their opinions during the lunchtime bike blender activity – a nice break for them, since it was Finals Week!Broadway High has more in store during the upcoming spring term, and SVBC can’t wait to support their continuing efforts to promote healthy, active transportation!