International Walk and Bike to School Day 2018

Ever wonder what SVBC’s Programs Team works so hard on day by day?

Did you know that more often than not, they’re up before sunrise driving to schools in Gilroy to deliver invaluable lessons in bike-riding safety and rules of the road to youth as young as Kindergarteners?

Wednesday, October 10th, was no exception. In conjunction with Santa Clara County Public Health’s Safe Routes To School department, Mui, Ann, and Delaney helped Glen View Elementary celebrate International Walk and Bike to School Day with as much pomp and circumstance as active transport and an early commute to school deserve: a walking school bus and a bike train.

The teams lined three separate routes to the school with bright balloon bundles and encouraging chalk messages, and led students and their parents in pedestrian and cycling groups that grew with each stop at designated meeting points. When asked how they got to school that morning during the assembly that followed, the kids gleefully compared the festivities to a “parade.”

Also in attendance were Gilroy’s Mayor Roland Velasco, Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Deborah A. Flores, California Highway Patrol, Gilroy Police Department, and other city officials and role models. Perhaps the most entertaining guest that day was Q, San José Earthquakes’ mascot, who brought an unmatched energy to the assembly and the overall message that walking and biking to school is not only good for our bodies, brains, and planet, but is also, simply, FUN with three capital letters.