Summitview's Bike Program Builds Confident Kids

Pedaling Toward Possibility: Summitview’s Bicycle Program Finishing Its 7th Year

In 2018, Jessica Hunter, Health and Fitness Teacher, discovered that 40% of students at Summitview Elementary didn’t know how to ride a bike without training wheels.

Thanks to grant from the West Valley Schools Foundation, she purchased five 24” and five 30” bikes, along with ten helmets, for the school. None of the staff members at Summitview could have predicted the momentum those bicycles would gather.

Today, 36 bikes line the berm at the school, most of them gifts from families, local shops, and civic groups who caught the vision of putting every child on a set of pedals. In Jessica Hunter’s class, every student learns bicycle safety, balancing, braking, and how to follow traffic signs and rules.

But bicycles are only the visible piece of Jessica’s program. The real engine is the spirit of community she’s built:

• Students teaching students. During fall and spring rotations for Health and Fitness, fourth grade and fifth grade “Ride Leaders” kneel beside Kindergarten and first grade students, help to steady tiny handlebars, and cheer-on the younger students through wobbly first launches. The older riders practice leadership and discover the joy of seeing someone else’s breakthrough grin.

• Confidence that carries into the classroom. More than 75 Summitview students have pedaled without training wheels for the very first time this year under Jessica’s guidance. Classroom teachers report that many of those same students arrive in class afterward sitting taller with a positive attitude. It is so rewarding to see their excitement.

Looking ahead, Jessica is working to add adaptive bikes so every child, regardless of ability, can share in the exhilaration of that first solo glide. If community members would like to assist with fundraising for this project, please contact the school at 509-972-5540.

Over the past seven years, the project has made a positive difference at the school. Summitview Principal, Eva Lust, says, “At Summitview, we talk often about educating the whole child. Jessica Hunter’s bicycle program embodies that promise—blending physical fitness, mentorship, perseverance, and pure childhood delight. Every time a student discovers forward motion under their own power, our entire school moves forward, too.”