Encouragement

Encouragement is closely tied to education strategies, but is more focused on getting students to try walking and bicycling to school, and celebrating and rewarding them for their efforts. Encouragement activities are more effective if the physical environment works for walking and bicycling to school.

It is suggested that a specific group be tasked with reviewing and implementing these for maximum effectiveness.

Objective 1. Review list of suggestions below and work on these projects or similar encouragement projects.

 Host a Walk to School Day (short-term)  Start Walking School bus (short-term)  Host a community bike ride (short-term)  Hold a SRTS logo contest (short-term) o Have all the students design a logo and then pick winner and have t- shirts printed with this logo  Punch card program for kids who walk or bike to school (short-term)  Have class by class competitions (short-term) o Drawings for prizes  Start a bike rental program o A local business might be interested in running this  Prizes for bikes in the bike racks (short-term) o Attach them to the bikes o Maybe just for the 1st month of school or specified time period  Host a bike/walk contest or challenge (short-term) o Challenge kids from a rival school district!  Have a remote drop off day one day a month for all students (short-term) o Increase frequency over time  Introduce “Walking Wednesdays” (short-term) o Every Wednesday children have a special activity around walking  Host an Open Streets Event (short-term)