We had a lot of help organizing the event including volunteer from the Claremont Senior Bike Group, The Rotary Club of Claremont, CHS Interact Club and parents of the kids at Chaparral. The lady behind the drive to get everyone together and organize the event was Melinda Warren, a Chaparral parent.

Chaparral Elementary School students and families enjoyed the second annual “Wheel Night” family fun night on Friday, May 12 at Chaparral.

The students were invited to bring bikes, roller blades, skates and scooters to the school to enjoy fun stations set up to test their skills on their wheels.

The night was created by volunteers from the Claremont Senior Bike group, CHS Interact Club, the Rotary Club of Claremont and officers from the Claremont Police Department. Tom Shelley, who created the stations. Special thanks go to Officer Nick Martinez and Sgt. Dave DeMetz, who were on hand to talk to kids about keeping Claremont streets safe. Also, Doug Druz of Jax Bicycle Center and Corey McCroskey from Coates Cyclery helped check and repair the students’ bicycles.

Stations tested students on balance, diminishing clearance, obstacles, intersecting turns, change in balance, look and see test and a sign test. The Claremont police were at the event to teach the students about bike safety and laws.

In each test, students were challenged with their knowledge and skill of their vehicle. Once the students had successfully completed some of the stations, they were entered in a raffle to win a Razor scooter.

The winner of the Razor scooter was Miles Fitzpatrick, a fifth grader in Anne Dieken’s class. Several students interviewed said that they loved “Wheel Night” and would enjoy coming again.

—Addison Walburg

[COURIER contributing reporter Addison Walburg is a sixth grader in Kimberly Walters’ class. Fifth grader Jack Warren took photographs.—KD]