WINDSOR LOCKS--- One Windsor Locks school is now the first in the state to receive free bikes.
Smiles and laughter echoed around the gym at North Street School as kids got a chance to see and test drive the bikes they will be learning to ride this year.
North Street School is the first in the state to receive the 22-free bikes as part of the Strider Education Foundation’s learn-to ride program
Cathi Dallensander is the p-e teacher at north street school who said, “One of the students had said, we want bikes, we want new and bigger bikes.”
Alongside another teacher, she entered the school into the program by having the kids write a letter.
Dallensander said, “I really thought the students were really coming from a place of advocating for themselves and for each other to have positive change here at our school and so to have that voice of the students I really thought was a very powerful thing.”
The bikes have no pedal, but there’s a reason.
Dallensander said, “The bikes are specifically made for children that are ages 3 to 7 and the curriculum that came with them are geared towards our kindergarten students.”
TSI Harley Davidson sponsored the program.
The goal is to have more than 600 kindergarteners riding over the next five years, which the motorcycle company says looking at the kids enjoy the bikes, makes it worth it.
Harry Levesque, the owner said, “You know it brings a smile on my face to see them having a good time, it does a lot for me.”