Dozens of kindergarten students hummed with excitement Wednesday in the Bush Elementary School gym as they sat in front of a mysterious lump covered with a rainbow parachute.“Who knows how to ride a bike?” Gov. Tina Kotek asked the group.  Kindergartener Jeno Garza shot to his feet with excitement. “I can ride 800 miles per hour,” he proclaimed to the governor. Another boy raised his hand while yelling in Spanish, “Yo! Yo! Yo!” Kotek raised her hands in the air, and in a flash, a group of volunteers swept away the parachute to reveal 24 brand-new bikes for the students to use. Pandemonium broke out as the students oohed and in some cases, gave a standing ovation. Gov. Tina Kotek amps up students at Bush Elementary School before revealing racks of donated bikes to help students learn to ride. The governor attended the unveiling on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in the school’s gym. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) The bikes came to Bush thanks to a donation from the HDR Foundation, the charitable arm of the HDR engineering consulting firm, which operates around the world. Bush has about 280 students and 48 kindergarteners. The gear allows kids to participate in a program from nonprofit All Kids Bike which teaches kindergarteners to ride in gym class. The foundation granted All Kids Bike a total of $333,000 this school year to fund the new bikes, helmets and other materials at 37 schools across the U.S. Michelle Fonseca Maldonado and Jessica Pineda, who work in HDR’s Salem office, both attended Bush and were present at Wednesday’s unveiling to help kids get started on the bikes. Fonseca Maldonado said she came from a lower-income family, like many at Bush.  “I recall how much my parents really struggled to get me my first bike for Christmas,” she said. She and Pineda attended the school in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and grew up riding around the neighborhood together. Pineda’s father had epilepsy and couldn’t drive, so they relied on bikes to get around. “Fewer and fewer children have the same freedoms we had as kids,” Pineda said.  She said everything from the challenge of fitting bikes into small apartments to fears over safety make it harder for today’s kids to bike independently. When they saw Bush was among the schools under consideration for funding, they encouraged HDR to make the donation. “If there’s anything that can be given, do it,” Pineda said. Michelle Fonseca Maldonado, a former Bush Elementary School student and HDR employee in Salem, helps a student at Bush get a new helmet before trying out bikes the company’s foundation donated to the school. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) The donation includes Strider balance bikes, which help students learn to ride without training wheels, and a larger bike for the school’s gym teacher to demonstrate on. Students begin biking by pushing their feet along the floor to propel the bike, gradually increasing the amount of time they’re balancing on two wheels. Once they’re confident, pedals are added. Kotek and a bevy of adults from the school, HDR and All Kids Bike helped students get started Wednesday, fitting helmets and demonstrating how to propel the bikes forward. Students zoomed laps around the gym, with a few taking spills and quickly recovering. Principal Jazmin Garcia is in her first year at Bush after working at Scott Elementary, which had bikes for students to learn to ride on. She said the lessons were effective, and a major motivator for students to come to school. “That was one of their most favorite things to look forward to,” she said. A worker from HDR demonstrates new balance bikes to students in the Bush Elementary School gym on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. The company’s foundation funded 24 new bikes for lessons at the school. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Kindergarten students at Bush Elementary School try out new Strider balance bikes in the school gym on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Gov. Tina Kotek helps Regina Molinero Espitia, a kindergarten student at Bush Elementary School, get set on a balance bike. The school received a grant for 24 bikes to teach kindergarten students how to ride. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post Kindergarteners pick up speed on new bikes at Bush Elementary appeared first on Salem Reporter.