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Hundreds of District 200 students participate in Bike to School Day

Dozens of Whittier Elementary students and parents gathered in Wheaton's foggy Kelly Park Wednesday morning to learn about bike safety and celebrate National Bike to School Day.

"I wanted to get kids interested in biking to school because it's good for the kids, and it's a way for them to be athletic and get some exercise," said Whittier parent Jim Knasel, who introduced National Bike to School Day to Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 a year ago.

Last May, roughly 200 students, parents and staff members from three District 200 schools participated.

A second bike to school event in October grew to about 400 participants from five schools.

Knasel estimated that more than 1,200 bicyclists rode to class Wednesday, creating several seas of colorful bikes and helmets. They represented 10 schools: Bower, Emerson, Johnson, Lincoln, Madison, Pleasant Hill, Sandburg and Whittier elementary schools and Franklin and Edison middle schools.

"It's grown quite a bit," Knasel said, adding that he has received support from the Wheaton City Council and Superintendent Jeff Schuler.

When the kids gathered in Kelly Park, they received a green and white sticker donated by the Parent Teacher Association that said they participated in a Bike to School event.

The students also watched as organizers dropped a watermelon strapped into a helmet from atop a ladder, followed by a watermelon without a helmet, which split open.

Knasel said it demonstrated to the kids that they "need to wear a helmet, because this is your brain if you wipe out."

The hope is to expand the event each year, but Knasel realizes it's difficult for kids who are bused to school, and for high school kids, who aren't as open to the idea.

"The elementary and the middle schools are the ones that really get excited about it and want to do it," he said. "If I can get all the elementary schools and middle schools, I'm happy."

  Principal Chris Silagi directs students as they make their way to Whittier Elementary School. They were among the more than 1,200 Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 students, parents and staff members who took part in National Bike to School Day. "It's grown quite a bit," said Whittier parent Jim Knasel, who introduced the idea in District 200 last year. Bev Horne/bhorne@dailyherald.com
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