Safe Routes to Schools Archives

Looking Back on the Safe Routes to Schools Year

June 30, 2025/in Blog, Safe Routes to Schools/by Transform Staff

The school year has ended for most elementary, middle, and high school students in Alameda County, so we wanted to take a moment to recap and appreciate all the walking, rolling, Golden Sneaker, and bike festival fun brought to you by Transform’s Program Team through our Safe Routes work. Special shoutout to all our fabulous parent, teacher, student, and administrator champions who volunteer their time and energy to bring our efforts to their school communities.

International Walk and Roll to School Day

The first big Safe Routes event of the school year is one we share with students across the country and the globe. On October 9, 2024, 143 schools participated in International Walk and Roll to School Day, with more than 10,000 students walking to school, 4,300 rolling on bikes or scooters, and nearly 3,400 carpooling. Almost 1,100 students got to school on school buses or public transit, for a total of around 19,000 walkers and rollers — almost twice as many as arrived in a solo car. Here are some quotes from a few of our champions around Alameda County that show just how fun and rewarding participating in one of the Safe Routes Events can be.

“I loved it! And will defo do it again. There were a lot of kids who joined. And I loved yelling out to all the stopped traffic, ‘If you took the bus, you wouldn’t be in traffic!’ LOL.” — Diane Shaw, AC Transit Commissioner/Board President

“We had a fantastic time at Eastin. We borrowed the blender bikes, and the kids thoroughly enjoyed mixing up a delicious smoothie while pedaling away. We also had two dignitaries join us in the festivities. Thank you for all of your support!” — Lisa Mata, Principal

International Walk and Roll to School Day 2024

“Thank you for all the planning and materials for another successful Walk & Roll Day! FUSD even acknowledged your work at the School Board meeting last night. Superintendent Erik Burmeister shared the following:

“‘Today is International Walk and Roll to School Day. We loved seeing Fremont Unified staff, students, and families walking and rolling this morning! Thank you to all who participated and the many volunteers who helped guide students and welcome them to school! We loved seeing our Board Trustees and staff, elected officials from the City of Fremont and AC Transit, and leaders from around our community supporting our students! And thanks to the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Program for coordinating!’” —M. Anne Damron, School Secretary

Ruby Bridges Day

On November 14, 2024, students walked and rolled to school in honor of Ruby Bridges, who was the first Black student at her previously all-White school in New Orleans in 1960, when she was six years old. Ruby Bridges Elementary School in Alameda is named after this courageous pioneer.

Burbank Elementary in Hayward organized a walking school bus from Hayward City Hall to campus, roughly a mile away, where students shouted “Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day,” while others held up posters explaining why they walk to school.

Reboot Your Commute

Twelve Alameda County high schools participated in Reboot Your Commute, starting in February of this year. The event challenges teens to consider their transportation choices, try out new modes, and form habits that can last a lifetime. To add to the excitement, students across the county had fun competing for trivia prizes and creating yummy smoothies on the bike blender. At the event at Granada High School in Livermore, students were really excited about the smoothies, and the event was quite popular and busy. In addition to the smoothies being a draw, Dylan, the event organizer, noted, “It was fun, and there was plenty of engagement. I heard how and why people bike/walk/carpool to school.”

The Golden Sneaker Contest

Oh, the excitement of the Golden Sneaker Contest! Within a school, classes compete with one another in the month of March to see who can use the most active and shared transportation to get to school. Winning classrooms get a Golden Sneaker trophy, which is extra special because the golden shoe on top is from a local (hint: 🏀) celebrity. The event lasted two weeks, and when the gold settled, we had 83 elementary and middle schools registered for the contest. We received results from 39 schools reporting, which represents nearly 15,500 students from over 643 classrooms. Every year, we recognize one school with the greatest overall performance in the contest. This year’s Platinum Sneaker awardee was Lockwood STEAM (Oakland USD).

Competition is fierce, friendly, and fun. At Oakland High School (Oakland USD), students wrote and produced a music video to discuss the negative effects of air pollution and encourage peers to walk, bike, carpool, or take the bus for the Golden Sneaker contest. They also held daily activities at lunch to generate enthusiasm and get more students using active and shared transportation. The competition served as an opportunity to meet the safety needs of communities. Valley View Elementary (Pleasanton USD), for example, used this event to launch two walking school buses. During the contest, Vice Principal Maulete Cardenas said there was less traffic and a lot more families walking and rolling. Now, every Thursday, parent volunteers lead walking school buses to school!

Alameda Bike Fest

Every year, the City of Alameda sponsors, and Transform’s Program Team organizes the Alameda Bike Fest. The event brings together people across the island to celebrate everything biking. On April 26, 2025, families gathered at Paden Elementary for educational and fun activities, ranging from learning about city infrastructure projects to helmet giveaways, free bike repair, and a kids learn to ride class. The event had several hundred people in attendance and continues to expand each year with more community organization involvement.

Bike to School Day

What better way to welcome summer than by ending the school year with a celebration of bikes, scooters, and skateboards! On Thursday, May 15, 2025, our team celebrated Bike to School Day. This date coincided with the Bay Area’s Bike to Wherever Day, an event previously known as Bike to Work Day. Bike to School Day is an opportunity for students, families, and school staff to celebrate rolling as a community, distribute incentives, and spread the fun. There were 69 schools across Alameda County that registered to participate. We received numbers from 38 participating schools, with about 2,429 students who biked to school, 676 students on scooters and skateboards, and 30 parents biking to school.

Students could stop at Bike to Wherever Day energizer stations along the way and get more swag as they rolled to school.

It’s clear that students love their bikes, scooters, and skateboards. Amelia Earhart Elementary (Alameda USD) had the highest number of students who biked, with a total of 165. The school hosted a bike train for the event for the first time, with two converging routes. Other fun events took place across the county, including an inaugural middle school bike train at Yu Ming Charter (Alameda County Office of Education), adding to the school’s existing elementary school bike train. Tyrrell Elementary (Hayward USD) also had students cheering on their peers biking to school and hosted a helmet giveaway during the event.

Everything else

The big events were loads of fun, but Safe Routes is much more than that. Our Youth Task Force read to elementary school students, learned about becoming climate champions, and got inspiration from a YTF alum. Parents and students organized 187 bike trains across 12 schools and 651 walking school buses at 16 schools for joyful, sustainable trips to school. We worked with over 300 schools to create events, provide educational resources, and help students walk, roll, take transit, and share rides to school.

We had a great school year — and we can’t wait for next year!

Bike to School Day Huge Success in 2025

May 30, 2025/in Blog, Safe Routes to Schools/by Transform Staff

On Thursday, May 15th, 2025, schools across the Bay Area celebrated Bike to School Day (B2SD) in conjunction with the Bay Area’s Bike to Wherever Day. In Alameda County, the event was organized by the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Site Coordination team at Transform. Bike to School Day is an opportunity for students, families, and school staff to come together as a community and spread the joy of biking. Across Alameda County, 69 schools participated, with approximately 2,340 students biking or rolling to school.

Many schools went above and beyond to celebrate Bike to School Day. A few notable activities included:

Yu Ming Charter (Alameda County Office of Education) launched its first bike train to the middle school campus, in addition to holding its regular elementary school bike train.
Bay Farm (Alameda USD) had the highest number of bike riders, with 178 students arriving at school by bike.
Lincoln High (San Leandro USD) started their bike train by visiting the energizer station at the San Leandro BART station.
Edison Elementary (Alameda USD) had three different bike trains, with the largest having 20 participants.

Thank you to all the volunteers, school staff, and students who made the 2025 Bike to School Day fabulous!

Announcing the 2025 Golden and Platinum Sneaker Awards

May 7, 2025/in Blog, Safe Routes to Schools/by Emilio Elenes

Every March, schools participate in the Golden Sneaker Contest. Students record how they get to school each day, and the classroom with the most active and shared transportation gets the Golden Sneaker Trophy (made with donated shoes from the Golden State Warriors). The Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC) also presents a Platinum Sneaker Award to the participating school with the most students using sustainable transportation throughout all of Alameda County.

Drum roll, please: the winner of the Platinum Sneaker award is…Lockwood STEAM Academy in the Oakland Unified School District. Congratulations to the Lockwood students, teachers, and staff for an outstanding effort. Special thanks to Safe Routes Champion Rose Chardak for helping make it happen, along with Ms. Brynna Price, whose 3rd- to 5th-grade special education class had an incredible 94% participation rate.

Way to go, Lockwood STEAM!

The legend of the Golden Sneaker

The Golden Sneaker is one of the most popular events that Transform’s team coordinates for the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Program. The trophies aren’t fancy: they’re sneakers spray-painted gold and mounted on a homemade wooden stand. But students know they’re competing for more than a used shoe — it represents the pride to be able to say they supported each other to use the most sustainable transportation.

Oakland High School students even made a rap video to promote the Golden Sneaker at their school.

Congratulations to every classroom that worked together to compete for the Golden Sneaker and every student who tried a new way of getting to school this year. You are all winners!

Youth Task Force Reads to Elementary Students

March 26, 2025/in Blog, Safe Routes to Schools/by Michele Walker

Featured image: Marley from Alameda Community Learning Center reads to kindergarteners at Love Elementary.

The Youth Task Force (YTF), high school students who promote active and shared transportation through the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Program, are movers and shakers. They’ve become climate ambassadors and have gone on to pursue higher education in transportation planning. But they haven’t forgotten what it was like to be an elementary school student, and one of the most popular activities for students on the YTF this year has been reading to elementary school classes.

Youth role models

Few things are more exciting to a young person than getting attention from an older kid. Younger students look up to older students and want to emulate their actions. To capitalize on this interest, Safe Routes has created opportunities for high school YTF members to visit local elementary schools to read stories about walking, rolling, and taking the bus.

The students bring with them some of their favorite, fun picture books about transportation, such as Joseph’s Big Ride by Terry Farish, Bear on a Bike by Stella Blackstone, and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems. Through Transportation Storytime, high schoolers inspire the next generation of transportation advocates.

So far this year, we’ve had high school-led Transportation Storytimes in Castro Valley, Fremont, Livermore, Oakland, and Alameda. A total of 44 high school students have read to 904 elementary school students, and we’re only three quarters of the way through the school year!

One of the most notable Transportation Storytimes this year was an inspired environmental science class that took a field trip from Oakland Technical High School to Piedmont Elementary to read. These are students who aren’t on the Youth Task Force but were given an opportunity to take part in our program and apply their in-class learnings through storytelling.

What’s next?

The Youth Task Force members continue to dream up creative ways to spread the word about different mobility options. For now, we’re still rolling with our reading initiative, and YTF is excited to continue to inspire the next generation to get outside and use their own two feet to get around.

Walking School Buses Provide More Than a Safe Route to School

March 14, 2025/in Blog, Safe Routes to Schools/by Emilio Elenes

The policies of the new administration in D.C. have created ripples in the communities Transform works with as part of the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Program. We serve many mixed-status families. At times like these, fear can run high, leading parents to keep students home from school, impeding their education.

The Transform Site Coordinator Team, through the Safe Routes Program, has tools like the walking school buses, which can do more than help children walk safely to school. By providing safety in numbers and sharing the work of shepherding students to school safely, walking school buses can also help protect parents and youth who might be targeted by ICE.

Here are some things you can do to help keep your school community safe for all students to learn.

Start a walking school bus

A walking school bus is a simple concept: a group of students walks to school together with adult supervision. The “bus” follows a route that takes it through the neighborhood, stopping at designated meeting points and picking up more young people on the way.

The adults who chaperone the bus can be an informal rotation of parents or trained volunteers. Our team can help connect you to resources like toolkits in English and Spanish, as well as other resources developed by the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Program to get started.

What to do if ICE approaches your walking school bus

The adults leading your walking school bus should educate themselves about what to do if approached by ICE agents and make a plan. Your plan should include:

If you see immigration agents, move the group to a safe indoor space nearby. This could be the home of a family with students taking the bus, a recreation center, or, if you’re close enough, a school building.
If you can’t move indoors, stay calm and try to keep the students calm. Try to keep everyone together.
Adults and youth have the right to refuse to answer questions. You have the right to refuse to be searched.
Immigrants who are legal residents should carry their papers. They may wish to show them to ICE.
An adult who is a U.S. citizen may wish to film the interaction. However, no one should interfere with or try to impede ICE.
Prepare ahead of time by creating a contact list, including emergency contacts, for everyone in your walking school bus, and make sure route leaders carry copies with them.

For more information, see the ACLU or the National Immigration Justice Center.

How to be an ally

If you see a walking school bus or other people approached by ICE agents, you can be an ally. Here are some possible actions to take to support the safety of our immigrant neighbors.

Do not impede or obstruct ICE agents.
Print red cards that detail immigrants’ rights and carry them with you. Hand them out. Use the instructions on the card if you see someone stopped by ICE.
Stand in solidarity: join the group being questioned by ICE and refuse to answer questions until a lawyer is present.
Use your camera to take photos or videos.
Report raids you witness. Call the 24-hour hotline in Alameda County at 510-241-4011.

For more information, see Indivisible or United We Dream.

Lean into community

One of the things that makes us strong is our community ties. Walking to school together is a fantastic way to build community strength by getting to know each other better. Safe Routes encouragement programs help build resilient networks that can be leveraged for mutual aid, while we’re teaching youth about sustainable transportation.

Youth Task Force Graduate Provides Inspiration for a New Generation

March 11, 2025/in Blog, Safe Routes to Schools/by Michele Walker

The Youth Task Force (YTF) is one of the exciting Safe Routes to Schools programs Transform brings to life. Students from high schools across Alameda County join the YTF to take on the role of leading the Safe Routes program at their individual high schools. Members take part in quarterly meetings where they build community across the county, share ideas, and learn about active transportation and climate advocacy. And, sometimes, our fabulous YTF members go on to do great things and come back to inspire the current cohort. Recently, we were thrilled to have a visit from Liana Tran, a YTF member in the 2021/2022 school year who is now a junior at UC Berkeley.

High school leadership

Liana joined the YTF while she was a student at Livermore High School. As an avid bike rider, she quickly began to discover the need for safer streets. She saw the group as a way to further her interest in bicycle and pedestrian advocacy and environmental issues. She was particularly inspired by the Tactical East Avenue process.

While on the Youth Task Force, Liana hosted encouragement events through the Nature Club, where she advocated for her peers to use active and shared transportation and think about local transportation issues. She originally was interested in environmental science, but during her senior year, she realized she wanted to study civil engineering as a way to advocate for better transportation systems. Through this major, she could create systems that would also benefit our environment. She is now a junior majoring in civil engineering with a minor in city planning and data science at Cal.

Paving the way for the next wave of young leaders

Liana has distinguished herself in college. She’s the president of the Cal Institute of Transportation Engineers, an organization dedicated to students interested in becoming transportation professionals. And she’s still a big transportation advocate.

Earlier this year, Liana reached out to us to see how she could get the Cal ITE organization involved with the Safe Routes to Schools program. One of the ways she has been involved so far is by joining the February meeting of the Youth Task Force, along with her classmate, Jason Tan. At the meeting, the college students spoke about their experiences transitioning from high school to college, the Cal Transportation Competition Team they are part of, and potential careers in the field of transportation.

Liana and Jason described potential college majors in the field:

Civil Engineering
- Main study for students interested in transportation engineering
Urban Studies/City Planning
- Main study for students interested in transportation planning
Data Science
- Transportation is extremely data-heavy! Data analysis, population studies
Industrial Engineering
- Traffic and signal optimization, including transit signal priority
Linguistics/English
- Grant writing, proposal writing!

They also outlined potential career paths like traffic and transportation engineering, transportation planning, and rail engineering and planning.

The presentation showed YTF members how they could continue to be involved in the transportation field beyond high school and even make it a career choice. The students were excited and energized by Liana and Jason’s stories and the information they presented. And it was a proud moment for the staff who support the YTF program to see one of our graduates so engaged in the work and becoming a leader in the transportation field. We are looking forward to seeing even more leaders develop through the years.

It’s Time to Get Ready for the Golden Sneaker Contest!

February 24, 2025/in Blog, Safe Routes to Schools/by Sheila Islam

Schools across Alameda County are getting ready for the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools (ACSR2S) Golden Sneaker Contest. When we talk with champions and youth about their favorite Safe Routes event, the Golden Sneaker Contest often tops the list. From March 3 to 14, classrooms and schools will track how many students walk, roll, bike, carpool, or take transit to school each day.

The classroom from each participating school with the highest rate of active and shared transportation usage will win the contest and the coveted Golden Sneaker award. This year, over 80 schools will be competing for the Golden Sneaker. When students get excited about active and shared mobility, everyone wins. Here’s what parents, teachers, administrators, and students can do to get ready for the Golden Sneaker competition.

Make a walking or rolling plan

What’s the best route to walk or roll to school? Consider creating a walking school bus or a bike train to ride or walk together to school during the competition. Or go for a practice run on the weekend to discover the safest path from home to school. It could be habit-forming!

Take a test ride on the bus

Taking the bus doesn’t have to be intimidating. There are apps — including Transit — that can help you figure out the best route to school and when the next bus will arrive. Take a test ride to get comfortable with the bus. Consider reading or playing a game, like I Spy, to make the ride go faster.

Have daily or weekly prizes and incentives

Teachers and champions can run their own mini competitions during Golden Sneaker to get students excited about the competition. Small prizes for the most miles traveled, the biggest CO2 reduction, encouraging others to join in, starting a walking school bus, or other positive steps will help students celebrate the changes they’re making in their commutes.

Beyond the Gold: The Platinum Sneaker Award

Each year, the AC SR2S program tallies the totals sent to them and identifies one school in the county as the Platinum Sneaker winner for being the school with the highest rate of active and shared transportation usage during the Golden Sneaker Contest. Representative(s) from the winning school receive a commemorative sneaker-shaped plaque and are celebrated during the April commission meeting, held April 24 this year. During this meeting, we celebrate the school’s efforts to promote healthy modes of transportation, curb pollution, and foster community on their campus.

Ready, Set, Roll!

Although only one class can win the Golden Sneaker and one school can win the Platinum Sneaker, everyone who participates wins. You might even get a visit from Goldie, the Golden Sneaker’s mascot.

Youth Task Force Engage with Alameda Youth Climate Ambassadors

February 5, 2025/in Blog, Safe Routes to Schools/by Michele Walker

This January, Transform’s Program Managers, Michele Walker and Sheila Islam, and Alameda Transportation Engineer Rochelle Wheeler were invited to speak with the newly formed Alameda Youth Climate Ambassadors, a group of students representing environmental clubs on Alameda high school and middle school campuses, about transportation and Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S). Youth Task Force members Samuel Phu and Ryan Chen, from Encinal Jr. Sr. High School, and Logan Mevoli and Keenan Chan, from Alameda High School, joined the presentation to talk specifically about Safe Routes efforts on their own campuses.

Youth share climate concerns

The Youth Task Force is part of Transform’s SR2S program. High school students help run Safe Routes events and programs and learn leadership skills, bringing the joy and freedom of getting around by walking, rolling, and shared transportation to other students.

The students at Alameda High shared that they created the Safe Routes to Schools Club this year to encourage more students on campus to utilize active and shared transportation to get to school. So far, they have hosted International Walk and Roll to School Day and are looking forward to Reboot Your Commute in February and, hopefully, a BikeMobile this spring.

During the meeting, they met another Alameda High student in the environmental committee in the Leadership Class. With that connection, they can reach more students and connect their work to the other climate initiatives at Alameda High.

Peer education sends a strong message

Encinal students, who run Safe Routes activities through the leadership class, shared their experiences with Safe Routes events and their campaign to educate peers about upcoming construction projects that will impact students along their commutes to school. One of their main goals for Safe Routes is to educate students about the environmental impact of transportation and how to safely use active and shared transportation to get to school.

During the meeting, the Encinal students connected with a student who takes part in the YouthPower club on their campus. This club seeks to fight climate change, and the Youth Task Force members can team up with their new connection to reach more students since the mission of Safe Routes and the mission of YouthPower are closely aligned.

Making the impact of transportation choices real

In addition to presenting about Safe Routes to Schools and transportation updates throughout Alameda, the group participated in a “Travel Race” activity, which encourages participants to look at the different impacts of walking, biking, taking public transit, and driving to school. They compared how much time it takes, the exercise you get, the cost, and the carbon emissions for each mode of transportation.

Students were surprised to learn just how much their transportation choices can impact other facets of their lives. These dedicated Alameda youth are ready to tackle a variety of transportation issues and are excited to share the joy of walking, biking, and taking transit with their peers.

Alameda County Students Reboot Their Commutes

January 28, 2025/in Blog, Safe Routes to Schools/by Michele Walker

Starting next week, Reboot Your Commute (RYC), a project of the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S) Program, will raise awareness and spur high school students across the county to try green transportation options. The event will wrap up at the end of March.

RYC aims to start a conversation about student transportation options and why they choose them to help students rethink how they get to school. Students can earn prizes for using shared or active transportation to get to school and for answering a question about their commute. Each site will have a board where students share why they bike, walk, take transit, or carpool to school. At the end of each school’s event, there’s a $50 Clipper Card or a scooter for one lucky student.

Why reboot your commute?

The habits we set in our youth affect us for the rest of our lives, so introducing young people to the joy and freedom of walking, biking, or taking transit to school can be the start of healthy habits. The CDC recommends an hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily for people under 18, but only about a quarter of high school students get that much exercise. Adding a bike ride or even walking to catch a bus has critical health benefits for young people.

Plus, young people will bear the brunt of climate change, growing up to live in a world struggling with greater weather extremes. Youth can be vital leaders in the movement away from transportation modes that fill our atmosphere with greenhouse gases.

Reboot Your Commute invites students to celebrate and share the reasons why we use active and shared transportation and inspire their peers to try out new forms of transportation. We hope RYC will help students build new habits that last long beyond the event.

Participating schools

Reboot Your Commute is a popular event, giving youth the chance to lead as well as participate. Students will staff tables, run the event, and encourage their peers to add messages to the Reboot boards.

This year, 12 Alameda County high schools are participating:

Castro Valley High School, Castro Valley: 2/6
Berkeley High School, Berkeley: 2/7
Alameda Community Learning Center, Alameda: 2/12
Alameda High School, Alameda: 2/12
Encinal Jr Sr High School, Alameda: 2/14
Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton: 2/19
Granada High School, Livermore: 2/26
Irvington High School, Fremont: 3/6
American High School, Fremont: 3/7
Washington High School, Fremont: 3/7
Tennyson High School, Hayward: 3/20
Albany High School, Albany: 3/26

This is one of our favorite times of the year. The Transform SR2S team looks forward to connecting with students and hearing their stories, ideas, and excitement. Every year, we learn as much as we teach from inspiring young people who are starting to change the world, one commute at a time.

Youth Task Force Members on Street Safety and Climate Dangers

November 13, 2024/in Blog, Safe Routes to Schools/by Michele Walker

The high school students who volunteer for the Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S) Youth Task Force care a lot about safety and the environment. We recently asked them about why they joined the Youth Task Force and how their attitudes about active transportation have changed since they were in elementary school. The two most common reasons they cited for getting involved were safety concerns or wanting to do something positive about climate change. They shared their inspiration through artwork and text.

This is part two of a two-part series. Read part one here.

Safety first

For some students, safety, including concerns about crime and about traffic violence, was a reason to get involved with the Youth Task Force (YTF).

Ryan, from Encinal Jr. Sr. High School in Alameda, told us: “I’m motivated to do SR2S work because of the crime and danger that is prevalent in Alameda and the cities around Alameda, like Oakland. When I go to places like Oakland Chinatown with my family or even when I’m taking a walk by myself, it’s really sad to see so many harmful things around me — especially when children walk on those same sidewalks. Being able to create change for the people and students around me is something that’s motivating to me. When I was still in elementary school, the only thing that likely would have motivated me was money and YouTube screen time — which is a stark difference compared to now.”

Sammy, who also goes to Encinal Jr. Sr. High School, said: “I’m motivated to do SR2S because I constantly see how dangerous biking can be and that some bikers don’t know road rules. I’d like to educate students on road rules to keep them more safe on the streets. This differs from my elementary mindset because I was all about ‘save the world!’ and ‘don’t use a car to limit pollution.’ While I’m still very much for the delay of further global warming, I realize that I should focus on things that I can do to impact my community.”

Safety concerns span Alameda County. Claudia, a student at Tennyson High School in Hayward, joined YTF to “Make the environment for students safer. I hear students are concerned about walking to school, and I want to help students feel safe and secure in the environment they live in! I became more aware of this stuff in the beginning of high school.”

The Safe Routes to Schools programs run by Transform in Alameda County make students safer by teaching them how to safely walk, roll, and take transit to school. And the larger Safe Routes movement augments that safety with grants to cities to build biking and walking infrastructure that helps students get to school safely.

Saving the planet

Not surprisingly, environmental concerns motivate many students to join the YTF. For example, Soundharya, a Fremont student who goes to Irvington High School, participates because “a big part of student government is service, and I’ve been wanting a way to focus on environmental service, and this is a good way to do that!”

Youth are clear-eyed about the role that biking and walking play in combating climate change. Logan from Alameda High School in Alameda said, “What motivates me to do SR2S work is just trying to make biking better, and making public transportation better, and create a bigger community. I’d like them to be more acknowledged and utilized so we can help the planet!” And Marley-Marie, who goes to the Alameda Community Learning Center, told us, “The environment needs to be more healthy! I feel like for future generations, it’s not going to be great if we keep on going down the same road we are.”

Today’s high school students have been environmentalists from an early age. Jasmine, a student at Washington High School in Fremont, said, “I’ve always had an interest in the environment. In elementary school, I was in the organization that organized the bins (trash/compost/recycling). In high school, that morphed into more adaptive versions of how I can help the environment (like Safe Routes).” Another Washington High student, Ruhi, told us, “When I was in elementary school, I had a teacher who loved talking about the environment and about cars and the impact on the environment. I’ve always told my parents I want an electric car! In the morning, there is so much traffic that cars can’t even complete turns, which is why I joined Safe Routes.”

Amalia from Oakland Technical High School in Oakland recalled, “In elementary school, I used to bike to school every day. I think climate change and the environment were motivating factors back then. Now I have more experience with different types of transportation, and seeing the lack of quality in public transportation and biking, I want to make it better and easier for students in high school.” And another Oakland Tech student, Harper, noted, “In elementary school, I would have been more motivated by clean, non-carbon emissions transportation. I scootered to school as a kid. Now I have more experience with lots of different transportation options.”

The Youth Task Force members of today are the climate and transportation leaders of tomorrow. They inspire us every day with their creativity, dedication, and thoughtfulness.

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