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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Perfect school attendance means new bikes for 700-plus Yakima-area kids

Tribune News Service

YAKIMA - Walking alongside her mother, 6-year-old Ceci Rosas wears a huge smile as she proudly grips the handlebars of a brand new bike.

It’s the first bicycle the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School student has ever owned, and she’s planning to spend the summer learning to ride it without training wheels. But she said she also wants to keep it just as clean and shiny as it is now.

She’s proud of the pink bike. And she has reason to be.

Rosas was one of more than 700 local students who walked away from Bud Clary Toyota of Yakima on Saturday with a bright new bike.

And she won it fair and square.

For the fifth year, the dealership awarded students at participating schools a bike for their perfect attendance.

Rosas, who will be heading into the first grade when school resumes this fall – and hundreds of students like her – never missed a single day for the entire 2016-17 school year.

Twenty-three schools participated in the bike giveaway this year, a number that’s risen just as significantly as the number of students who win new bikes and helmets for being present every day.

“They get their moments in the sun,” said Samantha Barth, who helped organize the event.

Each year, the Toyota dealership works with Toys R Us to be sure the bikes are ready in time for the big giveaway. It usually takes the toy store about three weeks to assemble everything, said Betty Stevens, who has been helping with the event for the past three years.

“It brings the community together and it gives them a goal to reach – it can give them something to really strive for,” Stevens said.

Barth said she’s heard stories from parents about students who will do anything in their power to make it to school every day, even if it means missing out on trips with friends or family.

“With working toward something like perfect attendance – it increases the likelihood of them succeeding in school and in life,” Barth said.

Winning students at participating schools from Yakima to Ellensburg were invited to the all-day party, where they enjoyed hot dogs and snow cones and walked away with brand new bicycles.

This was Adrian Mata’s second time to win a bike for perfect school attendance.

Mata, 10, will be in Martin Luther King Jr.’s fifth grade classes this fall. He said math is his favorite subject and that getting up to head out every morning is a cinch.

Mata was clearly excited to get home and take his new bike for a ride. He thought intensely for only a moment before saying why maintaining perfect attendance is so essential to his education.

“It’s important to learn,” Mata said.