Kenowa Hills — With a cantaloupe in one hand and a bike helmet in the other, Walker Fire Marshal Kevin DeGroot prepared a group of students dressed in yellow safety vests for what they were about to see fall from the sky.
High above the ground at Zinser Elementary School, a firefighter stood in the ladder basket and dropped a cantaloupe. The kids gasped and shouted as the melon plummeted towards the parking lot and smashed upon impact.
“That’s your head if you fall off your bike without wearing a helmet,” DeGroot said.
The intense lesson caught the kids’ attention, and every single one stood watching as the next melon fell to the ground, this time securely strapped into a helmet.
Despite the impact’s loud noise, both the melon and helmet were unharmed and in one piece after the fall.
“How many brains do we have?” DeGroot asked his captivated audience.
“One,” they replied in unison. He said, “Right, and we have to protect it.”
A Summer of Safety Lessons
This summer was the first time the City of Walker hosted Safety Town, a program that provides young kids with hands-on lessons in bicycle, fire, weather, animal and water safety.
Already established in cities like East Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor, the Walker Community Engagement Committee thought the program would allow kids to practice real-world scenarios and help build their confidence and awareness.
Over four days, 20 students from Kenowa Hills and the surrounding community, ages four to 11, participated in interactive activities run by the Walker Police Department, Walker Fire Department, Department of Public Works, Life EMS, community organizations and sponsors. Kenowa Hills bus drivers demonstrated how to ride and walk safely around a bus, and volunteers from Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital fitted each child with a bike helmet.
Meijer also donated bikes for every student to take home after the program. On their new bikes, students got to practice riding around a “mini-city” with road signs and stop lights set up in Zinser’s gym. Some kids went for a leisurely peddle around the town, while other more experienced bike riders zipped around corners and practiced riding inside the road lines.
Zinser Elementary’s principal and Walker resident Brooke Johnston volunteered most mornings to serve as crossing guard and encourage students to get back on their bikes after tipping over.
At one point, Johnston caught one of her students running through a stop sign. When she asked him why he did it, he replied innocently, “I didn’t see the sign.”
Johnston said students are sent home with reading materials for them “to read with their families, talk about what they learned and continue practicing safety.”
Kenowa Hills parent and member of the Community Engagement Committee Jenna Wilmers said the program was in the planning phase for almost two years. She officially pitched the idea at a city commission meeting last December.
“My mom introduced me to this program and I thought Walker needed to have one,” she said. “I wished my son had something like this to practice calling 911 and learning more about safety.”
Walker Community Outreach and Engagement Officer Mitch Harkema said the Safety Town program serves as a “building block to building a safer community.”
“It gives kids a foundation at a young age and they carry what they learned here as they get older,” he said.
Read more from Kenowa Hills:
• ‘The GOAT’ says farewell to Kenowa Hills
• Emergency training helps bus drivers sharpen skills
