The Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S) Program is celebrating the success of one of its core countywide events: the Golden Sneaker Contest. At the Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC)’s April 27th meeting, Commission Chair and Emeryville Mayor John J. Bauters awarded the Platinum Sneaker to Berkeley Arts Magnet School, commonly referred to as BAM, which is located in Berkeley and part of the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD). Chair Bauters and his fellow commissioners also expressed congratulations to each school’s winning classroom, school staff throughout Alameda County for great participation, and the SR2S Program in delivering one of its core encouragement events for school aged youth.
The Golden Sneaker Contest is a popular annual tradition administered by Alameda CTC’s SR2S Program. The program is a comprehensive and proven approach to increase safe walking and biking to travel to school with the goals of reducing congestion and harmful pollutants around schools and increasing the safety and physical activity of students. This year nearly 100 schools registered for the event and participated between February 27th and March 10th. The contest mobilized nearly 16,000 school students throughout Alameda County into active travel for the trip to school.
An average of 74% of Platinum Sneaker-winning Berkeley Arts Magnet School students took an active or shared transportation option to school during the contest. This included 18 classrooms and approximately 380 students. The winning classroom was Ms. Rieger’s first grade class, with 92% participation. Alameda CTC extends a special thank you to Berkeley Arts Magnet School Safe Routes champion Karmit Jacobson, and school principal Rene Molina for bringing the SR2S Program and this wonderful event to their school!
