CIW Bike Chicago: Seeing the City on Two Wheels
By Sarah Martinson
Go on the tour yourself with the upcoming Lab Bike and Park: Bike Community & You on Monday, October 13. Tickets available for just $15.
In less than an hour—and without breaking a sweat—you can see some the best views of Chicago on Bike and Roll’s Amazing Lakefront Chicago Segway Tour. On October 6, as a part of the CIW YOU(th) program, which gives over 450 Chicago Public School students the opportunity to participate in Chicago Ideas Week programming, 10 Chicago public high students toured the city in style—all while soaking in Chicago history.
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| CIW YOU(th) students biked and rolled around the city this past Monday, October 6. |
The students, all a part of Little Village High School’s BAM (Becoming A Man) program, learned about Chicago’s transformation after the Great Fire in 1871 from Mrs. O’Leary’s great-great-granddaughter herself, Tess Collins, and Bike and Roll’s Todd Beckman.
The Bike Chicago Lab is just one of many labs happening throughout this week as a part of CIW YOU(th) program. The Labs are designed to give students behind-the-scenes glimpses of Chicago-area organizations, from the Chicago Bulls to O’Hare airport, that many students otherwise would not have the opportunity to experience—or seek out themselves. “I wasn’t going to come to this,” one student admitted after the Bike and Roll tour, “but I am glad I did. It was a lot fun.”
BAM, a Youth Guidance program that provides support for young, at-risk male students, is just one of many programs that has partnered with CIW YOU(th) this year. Students from programs like One Goal, Embarc, the Future Founders Foundation and many others took part in Labs leading up to CIW and will attend events like Future Global Leaders, the Edison Talks and the Tech Summit.
“This week, we were able to give all of our YOU(th) programs the opportunity to experience much of what our city has to offer,” CIW Director of YOU(th) Programming Rachel Graham said. “We’re excited to host over 450 students next week at Chicago Ideas Week Talks, where they’ll learn from our speakers and each other.”
