Fully seizing the opportunity to make a difference in their community, middle school students in the Community Adventure Program (CAP) class at PS1 Charter School decided to focus their Action Project on alternative transportation.  Seeing as none of them are able to drive yet, they quickly discovered that they were all pretty good at using public transportation. But after a little bit of brainstormin, the students found it would be more efficient, sustainable and healthier if they could ride bikes to school, friends houses and on errands.

To make this possible the CAP students partnered with a free, volunteer-run bike shop called Derailer Bike Collective. The students creatively found 14 bikes to be donated to their cause and worked with the volunteers at Derailer to get the bikes into working condition.

By the end of the semester the 8 students in the CAP class who did not own bikes had a functioning bike to take home with them! The 14 bikes that were originally unrideable looked almost new! Way to go PS1 students! All of the students spent over ten hours in the shop repairing bicycles and learning bike maintenance and safety, rules of the road and safe routs to school. All of the students made a commitment to ride their bikes as much as possible to school, friends houses and elsewhere. Four of the students who already had bicycles of their own donated their bikes to other kids at the school who didn’t, and two students donated their bikes to a local refugee family who who needed transportation to work. The family and students outside of the class received brochures with the information the CAP students collected and made the same commitments to ride their bikes. As a final touch, the CAP class made a presentation for their school to promote bike commuting.

“I liked being able to have someone show me what to do, then getting a chance to try it myself.”  – Indio