Learning to ride a bike is a rite of passage that won’t be denied to kindergarteners or first graders at Springfield’s Hazel Dell Elementary School, thanks to Cross Country Chase.
CCC partnered with All Kids Bike to assemble and donate the bikes, which greeted students as a big surprise after class on Wednesday. The project came about as part of a grant that was approved last year.
Hazel Dell’s Principal, Tiffany Burris, was especially enthusiastic that the school could do something special involving its youngest students, the kindergarteners.
And there’s more to the gift than just new sets of wheels. “This program comes with a ten-week curriculum,” Burris said, “so on Mondays they’ll come to the gym, and our P.E. teacher has several activities which he will use.”
Cross Country Chase founder/owner, Jason Sims, says there’s more to the program than just learning to ride. “It really gives them a lot of responsibility, like being able to maintain the bike. It develops motor skills . . . balance.”
Sims also says it’s a good way to get kids to appreciate bike safety and provide an early window into the sport of biking and bike culture.