Verdugo Woodlands students pedal to school for National Bike Month
Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School students, parents and volunteers participate in Bike to School Day in Glendale on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. The ride began at the First Congregational Church, traveled south on Niodrara Drive into Verdugo Park and ended at the back entrance to the school on Colina Drive.
More than 50 students biked to Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School on Wednesday morning as part of National Bike Month.
Parents volunteered to participate in the event, which also attracted members of Walk Bike Glendale, an organization that promotes biking and walking locally, and a handful of students and coaches from Clark Magnet High School’s mountain biking team, said Kara Sergile, who helped organize the event.
“This is an opportunity to kick off all sorts of fun bicycle-related activities through the month of May,” she said.
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Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School students, parents and volunteers participate in Bike to School Day in Glendale on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. The ride began at the First Congregational Church and traveled south on Niodrara Dr. into Verdugo Park and finally into the back entrance to the school on Colina Drive. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)
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Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School student Liana Itaya, 7 and in second grade, is helped by assistant principal Rosabel Park cross the street as other children, parents and volunteers participate in Bike to School Day on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. The ride began at the First Congregational Church and traveled south on Niodrara Dr. into Verdugo Park and finally into the back entrance to the school on Colina Drive. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)
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Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School students like kindergartener Fernando Rios, 6, and parents like his mother Yadira Rios, participate in Bike to School Day in Glendale, on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. The ride began at the First Congregational Church and traveled south on Niodrara Dr. into Verdugo Park and finally into the back entrance to the school on Colina Drive. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)
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Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School students, parents and volunteers participate in Bike to School Day on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. The ride began at the First Congregational Church and traveled south on Niodrara Dr. into Verdugo Park and finally into the back entrance to the school on Colina Drive. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)
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Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School students, parents and volunteers participate in Bike to School Day on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. The ride began at the First Congregational Church and traveled south on Niodrara Dr. into Verdugo Park and finally into the back entrance to the school on Colina Drive. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)
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Clark Magnet High School student Anna Herring, left, helps second grader Ven Hagobian, 7, fit his helmet properly before Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School’s Bike to School Day in Glendale on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. The ride began at the First Congregational Church and traveled south on Niodrara Dr. into Verdugo Park and finally into the back entrance to the school on Colina Drive. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)
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Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School students, parents and volunteers participate in Bike to School Day in Glendale on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. The ride began at the First Congregational Church and traveled south on Niodrara Dr. into Verdugo Park and finally into the back entrance to the school on Colina Drive. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)
The students met at First Congregational Church shortly after 7:30 a.m., then took Niodrara Drive to Colina Drive before riding through Verdugo Park to Cañada Boulevard and up to the back entrance of Verdugo Woodlands Elementary.
As Sergile observed the 58 students riding to school together, she said she saw “a lot of excitement” and “a lot of smiling faces.”
This event marked the second time the school has participated in National Bike Month, she said.
Kelly Corrigan is a former News Desk multiplatform editor for the Los Angeles Times. For several years, she covered education for the Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader, winning John Swett awards for her education coverage in 2016 and 2017. She is a graduate of Cal State San Marcos and the Missouri School of Journalism.
