Youth Task Force Reads to Elementary Students
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.
