We made the pledge to host a whole school event in 2021 - and we have done it! Promoting the benefits of active transport in reducing our negative impact on the environment was a way for the college to celebrate World Environment Day. A day set by the United Nations to encourage worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment.

Our first task was to promote the event to the college community and this was achieved by recruiting an amazing year 12 student ambassador, Rocco Turazza. Rocco rides his customised cargo bike to school each day, saying, 'feeling the wind in my hair and the thrill of the ride each day as I ride to school is one of the highlights of my day"

At the age of eight, Rocco suffered a brain aneurism and after eight months in hospital he was discharged in a wheel chair to continue his rehabilitation as an out-patient. Rocco credits his father for persuading him to create the customised cargo bike that has given him back the freedom he previously had. You can read the full story here. This story was shared in our social media, with our local newspaper and the Department of Education media team.

It was great to see all our staff and student volunteers who signed up on a chilly Tuesday morning to hand out 1000 raffle tickets and stick on tattoos to students who had arrived by public transport, bike or walking. First prize was a $50 Rebel sport voucher earned from our YM rewards and some YM water bottles. We announced the winners over the college PA and teachers remarked on the enthusiasm of students as they listened attentively for the announcement of the winners.

Staff also supported the event by signing up to a carpooling coffee roulette roster that paired them up with a colleague they could drive to school with. I personally had a fantastic time chatting to my science teacher colleague on the way to school. We are looking forward to repeating this again.

I have attached the customised raffle tickets that I created for the event on an Excel document, cutting the tickets out with our school guillotine. The winners were selected by using a random number generator. Some photos of our hard working volunteers and Rocco's customised bike are shown below.

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James (Your Move)

So much good news there Donna! 1000 raffle ticket? Does that mean you had 1000 active travellers? What is a 'coffee roulette roster'? Sorry about all the questions - now for some points! You earned 40 for your event, 22 for posting Rocco's active travel success story in the school newsletter, 25 for your car pool promo and 30 points for writing such an inspiring story. Was Rocco's story also picked up by the local media? Can you include a link for that too - then I can give even more points 😉.

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Donna

Yes 1000+ students arrive to school every day using active transport... We are a school of approx 2000 students so the less cars coming on campus the better. The article was sent to local media but unfortunately no one took up the story.. My intention was they would..I will keep working on it. Thanks for the points, we are now up to Silver status..Yippee!

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James (Your Move)

It is such a lovely story about Rocco, I can't believe they didn't go with it! Maybe it was a busy news week? Great to hear you have just tipped over to Silver 😊.

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