By james art Before most of Durham rises, tree-lined Oval Drive Park is peaceful except for a light morning breeze.
That is until about 30 kids and their parents start arriving on bikes and scooters. Before long, a school bus pulls up to the park, dropping off more kids.
The children are pupils at nearby EK Powe Primary School who are taking part in Walk to School Day. It is part of a week-long celebration promoting sustainable commuting, which is taking place in over a third of Durham’s public primary schools.
The event involves two groups of children – one walking and one cycling – both starting at the park and finishing at the school.
Cyclists start arriving at 7:10 a.m., before sunrise. When the school bus pulls into Oval Drive Park to drop off the walkers, the temperature is around forty. Some children get off the school bus wrapped in blankets or down jackets.
The energy is high though.
As the children exit the bus, they are greeted by Sparky, the Durham Fire Department’s canine mascot. Sparky, waiting at the park’s tennis courts, is overrun by kids who descend on him. Motorists – their classmates – in most cases are not worried. They calmly wait for the roller coaster to start, most with their feet on the ground for balance.
After a few chaotic minutes, principal Michael Mattia and teachers EK Powe successfully herded dozens of children off the bus and lined them up. They will walk the rest of the way to school together, a distance of about 0.7 miles. Mattia says many have never been to school before.
“It’s a really great experience for them to say, ‘Oh, my feet hurt!’ I’m not used to walking like this,” he says.
Curtis Walker, PE teacher at EK Powe, explains the rules. “You will stay together. You want to follow the directions of the adults who guide us during the trip.
“Let there be no accidents,” interjects a parent.
The groups are then turned off.
Pedestrians and cyclists take two different intersecting routes. The cyclists’ route is about a mile long, winding through the quiet hilly streets of Watts-Hillandale before ending in Old West Durham.
“I just did 10 billion switchbacks!” a kid yells to his dad after scaling a particularly steep hill. Some kids on scooters are defeated by the hills, they have to get off and walk. However, at each Stop sign, the group becomes whole again.
“Check both sides!” Jacopo Montobio, education program manager at Bike Durham, asks two children in front.
When they give full clearance, the group accelerates.
“Okay, here we go,” says Montobio.
At another stop sign, he asks the children if there are bells. A lingering symphony of bells and chimes greets neighbors along West Knox Street.
Later, at the intersection of West Knox and Virgie streets in the Old West Durham neighborhood, a horde of elementary school students on bicycles and scooters met the group on foot. They both burst into screams and laughter.
Finally, after about a mile of cycling, the children arrive at school. But the excitement doesn’t end once the kids start their school day.
In fact, Mattia intentionally scheduled the event on Friday to account for the students’ higher energy levels.
“They’ll talk about how much fun they had and why they’re excited,” he says. “That way they have the weekend to settle in and then we’re right back to learning and regular school on Monday.”
Yaseen Abdul-Malik, a fourth-grade teacher at EK Powe who is leading a group of walking students this morning, agrees.
“The rest of the day we ride high. We’ll walk to school, then share some of the things we saw with some of the other kids who didn’t walk.
Abdul-Malik, who goes by the name “Mr. Y’ believes that events like this also destigmatize different methods of getting to school.
“Riding the bus growing up was a mistake, like, ‘Daddy doesn’t have a car,'” says Abdul-Malik, who grew up in Durham Public Schools in the early 1990s.
“We’ve come a long way in terms of the narratives we teach our children and the communities we build.”
Bike training and bike to school runs all year round at EK Powe, even when there is no school-wide event planned.
Walker, the physical education teacher at Powe, is also certified by Bike Durham to teach his students how to bike safely during the school year. He says events like this help his students become more confident cyclists. “When my students become fifth graders, there are a lot more of them who are independent riders,” Walker says.
David Bradway, an EK Powe parent and researcher in Duke’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, helps organize weekly bike rides from Oval Drive Park to the school. Come rain or shine, he takes his daughter to school on his bike and encourages other families to join him.
“I’m usually on two wheels,” he says.
Above: The EK Powe bike train heads to school. Photos by Abigail Bromberger — The 9th Street Journal