Image: Don Erhardt —

Another Great Walk 'n Roll to School Celebration Week!

WOW! I'm absolutely gobsmacked (yes gobsmacked!) by the great response to Walk 'n Roll to School Week! Not only did participants lace up their running shoes and jump on their bikes, scooters and skateboards all week long, but they did so with huge smiles on their faces, even when ominous-looking clouds loomed threateningly in the distance (once again, Mother Nature smiled down on Walk 'n Roll and we had dry weather all week long)!

In the end (drumroll please) 138 students logged an AMAZING 623 trips to school with their Walk ‘n Roll passports! That’s 138 more trips than were logged last May, when UTown@UBC and the UNA began the Walk ‘n Roll to School program. To those of you who walked or rode their bikes this week, you should be very proud of yourselves! We hope that you enjoyed the activities and events this week—from cycling rodeos to bike safety checks to taking the Walk ‘n Roll Pledge, and of course, taking part in the walwalknroll_picstitch.JPGking school bus.

Thank you so much to all the parents and volunteers who donned yellow hats and t-shirts and walked and rolled with us! This project could not have been such a success without each of you taking the time to participate and help the students feel more comfortable and confident walking and riding to school. I hope that you enjoyed walking and rolling with us as much as we enjoyed having you there, and that you had the opportunity to get to know your neighbours. Special thanks to our fearless team leaders Ofira, Tim, Amanda, Christine and Elisete, who led the walking school bus from each of their campus neighbourhoods—your enthusiasm was truly infectious and your expertise as leaders was much appreciated!

To all of the teachers and administrators at University Hill Elementary School—thank you so much for your help in helping to promote safe, active and sustainable transportation to your students, and for your wonderful support of this initiative.

Finally, thank you to our great community partners—More Bikes for getting us ready to ride with free bike safety checks, and Save-on-Foods at UBC, for helping us celebrate a great week with free healthy snacks for all students. Your continued support of this project means so much to the community. MoreBikes.JPG

We look forward to walking and rolling with you again in the fall, and in the meantime, we hope that you will continue to choose safe, active and sustainable transportation whenever possible!

Check back soon for photos from Walk ‘n Roll to School Celebration Week!