Alice Award nominees: Curtis and Antonia MacNaughton
Posted by: MichelleFeb 15 2007, 2:33 pm
Greg, Antonia and Curtis MacNaughton were nominated for an Alice Award this year for being a model bike commuting family (though Greg insists that it's Curtis and Antonia, his children, who deserve all the glory). They're part of a group that is making Lewis Elementary more bikeable for more families. (The BTA is working at Lewis, too, through the Safe Routes to School Program.) Here Greg writes a bit about their habits and beliefs, and interviews his two favorite bike commuters.
Curtis and Antonia MacNaughton, ages 10 and 9, attend Lewis Elementary School in Southeast Portland. They began riding to school with their father Gregory at the start of the 2003-2004 school year when Curtis was in 2nd grade and Antonia was starting kindergarten. They have ridden to school almost every day since then. Although their commute to school is only about three miles, it has added up to over 2500 miles on Antonia’s odometer.
Last year two other families at Lewis began to ride every day so now there are at least eight bikes at Lewis each and every morning. This fall the MacNaughtons began a “bike bus� with one of these families. They have a regular route that they take every morning at the same time and other Lewis students join them along the way, (when the weather is agreeable to them). There is a great enthusiasm for cycling at Lewis Elementary and when the sun comes out, the bike racks at Lewis are full to capacity.
Lewis was one of eight pilot schools that participated in the Safe Routes to School program last year. Safe Routes has been a great program at Lewis and has certainly encouraged more students to cycle to school. At the close of the program last year, Lewis had the highest percentage of regular bicycle riders out of all participating Portland schools, and last fall Lewis even took part in the BTA’s Bike Commute Challenge.
Curtis and Antonia have been at the forefront of this cycling renaissance at Lewis and it is not uncommon for people in the neighborhood to recognize the two of them and congratulate them for their dedication. The conversation goes something like this:
“Hey, I know you, I see you riding your bikes to school in the morning.�
“Yeah, that’s us.�
“I think that’s great! Do you ride everyday?�
“Yep�.
“Rain or shine?�
“Rain AND shine."
Then the stranger usually turns to Gregory and asks if it’s hard to motivate the children to ride when the weather is foul. That’s when the children look at Greg and smile and then they look back at the stranger and say, “He doesn’t know how to drive a car.�
The two of them beam with satisfaction to learn that people are aware of their accomplishment. It is particularly gratifying to be nominated for an Alice Award (for the second time) by someone in the neighborhood who sees what they are doing and wants them to know that it is worthy of recognition.
Here is what Curtis and Antonia had to say when they were asked to share some of their thoughts about cycling:
How do you feel when you are biking?
Curtis: Like when I’m breathing, well, I feel healthy, I feel happy, excited, proud.
What makes you feel proud?
Curtis: I’m proud that I’m not contributing to pollution and global warming.
Antonia: I feel glad that I made it (up the hill) and that I don’t have to work so hard on my way home from school ‘cause its all downhill.
Do you ever feel that you don’t want to ride?
Antonia: Yeah, sometimes when I’m really tired. Like, I wish I had a zero gear.
Curtis: Someone at school asked me why we ride our bikes everyday.
Did you tell them that your dad is so dumb he doesn’t even know how to drive?
Curtis: I told her that there won’t be gas forever and you might as well get used to it now.
Do you think you will be life-long riders?
Antonia: I think I might want a car to go long distances but I think I’ll always bike.
Curtis: Yeah, I hate pollution. And global warming.
Antonia: Me too.
What would you say to other people to encourage them to bike more?
Curtis: Bike ‘cause it’s good for your heart.
Antonia: It's fun to bike.
How do you feel about being nominated for an Alice B. Toeclips award?
Antonia: I hope we win.
————————-
Gregory MacNaughton is the Education and Outreach Coordinator for Reed College's Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery. Thanks Greg!
I think these two are wonderful candidates for the Alice Award and I hope they win. They inspire me and I am 37 years old and use a car a lot. Sometimes it takes young people to tell it like it is. Great article.
To tell the truth, I am a little bit scared of riding a bike on the street, especially in bad weather. These two children make it look easy. They are really inspiring and I am going to try to be more like them and ride my bike to work at least once a week. Good luck to them!
Great article! I really like the way Curtis describes the feeling of riding on a bike and Antonia is right – it is just plain fun. I know I am always in a better mood when I arrive somewhere by bike instead of the car. You two are both very inspiring and I hope you win this award!
Curtis and Antonia are quite a team! I hope you win it!
I rode to a meeting today in Sellwood this weekend-that I might have just jumped into the car for if I hadn't had you guys on my mind. Thanks for the inspiration…and you're award winners in my book!
kudos to curtis and antonia – "One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade."
I invoke these guys when my two and a half year old doesn't want to get on his tricycle for the mile push to our little town of Mosier, Or. Curtis and Antonia rank pretty high in his world (not to mention mine!) and their example goes a long way. It was wonderful to show him this article. Ride on, guys! We love you!
This makes it official. Curtis and Antonia are now famous in Austin, Texas. They would love you two here! Did you know Austin was a bike-loving city and countryside?
What you do yourselves and what you do to involve others is a wonderful thing. Keep it up. And I do hope the Alice Award might be yours. But, regardless, you should feel good in your hearts.
Seriously…I get tears in my eyes when I see this team riding to school, especially up the gear-busting hill from Johnson Creek to Lewis School. Growing up in Minnesota, I rode with my brothers and sisters up to 10 miles one way to the many lakes that surrounded our city each summer through my teens, starting when I was just 7 years old, and I rode my bike to school each day all the way through six years of college. When I was in my 20s and again in my early 30s I rode across Canada and all over Europe, Isreal and Greece on my bike. Then I had a child seven years ago and dreamed of us riding to school each day together. But geuss what? My child hates cycling—too much time in a Burley trailer I am afraid. It's painful to even write that. So when I see Curtis and Antonia, I am jealous and overjoyed at the same time to know they are out there by choice and determination. They are being the change they wish to see in the world. They are our SE Portland bike heroes and hopefully their example will inspire my son.