Author: Sara Salo

Celebrating bikes at Santa Barbara High School

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Bikes, smoothies, rockin’ music and lots of smiles – those words pretty much sum up last Thursday afternoon at Santa Barbara High School. The fantastic students from Don’s Net Cafe hosted me on campus for the day. After a few class presentations, a campus tour and lunch at the mobile cafe it was time for the big event: SFT at Santa Barbara High School.

The High School has a great new bicycle repair center and bike club down near the automotive shop. This location was showcased during our event through a DJ, bicycle blender & raffle prizes. DJ Rayne turned up the tunes as soon as the final bell rang and soon students were pouring into our bike zone. Smoothies were made, stickers snatched up and dance moves busted out. I spoke for a few minutes about my bike trip and then drew the grand prize ticket from the bag. Someone was about to win a refurbished bicycle donated by Bici Centro, the local bicycle co-op. The young man with the winning ticket had acquired a new bike just last year – so he decided to spread the love and give his prize to another student. This petite gal was ecstatic with her friend’s kindness and cruised around the parking lot on her new ride, smiling and waving to the crowd.

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I had a wonderful time getting to know the Don’s Net Cafe crew and their incredible teacher Miss B. A HUGE thank-you to everyone involved with this event. It was a great success and I hope the momentum will carry forward into future projects for the school. I (heart) SB!!

A gardenside chat

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“Wait. Have we met you before?”, asks one sixth grader as his class settles into the outdoor classroom benches at a Santa Barbara area elementary school.

“Nope. I’m the crazy bike lady. I rode over 1,000 miles just to come here and talk to YOU!”, I reply. A few other students tune in. Immediately, I have their attention. This is a condensed presentation so after a quick overview of my route, program and mission, the floor opens up for Q&A. Hands are timid to start, but soon the class is peppering me with questions, including such gems as:

  • “Do you get to go to the bathroom?”
  • “What do you eat?”
  • “What’s your favorite color?”
  • “Are you married?”
  • … and of course, the wonderfully esoteric “WHY are you doing this?”

We wrap up and head into the garden where the students are soon busy carefully planting lettuce & bok choy in slightly crooked rows. I connect with the Principal and she fills me in on their many school lunch successes. Check out a portion of the list below:

I ask her what the turning point was for their school. “It was just time. We wrote a wellness policy, got specific, and stuck to it. A combination of motivated food services personnel, student education, family involvement & staff buy-in were all key pieces.”

This principal also encourages all the students to create a “Party on their plate” by placing the salad in the middle of a segmented tray rather than sequestering all those fresh veggies on the sidelines. She guesses that 25% of students are now “partying” on their plates. Kudos to everyone involved in making healthy changes at this school!

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Holy Guacamole!

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I took advantage of an off day in Santa Barbara to ride the Amtrak down to the California Avocado Festival in Carpinteria. This event is celebrating 25 years of avo-love and boy, does it show. There was live music, art and the food court was an avocado lovers dream. The vendors served everything from guacamole to avocado ice cream to avocado shrimp cocktail.

The guest of honor.

Surprisingly however, my favorite tent of the day did not involved eating. There was an entire area decorated with avocado dioramas designed by local elementary school students. These amazing and creative images left me in fits of giggles each time I reviewed the photos on my iPhone. Enjoy!

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