Sir Alexander Mackenzie School’s gym was full Thursday afternoon as kindergarten students from St. Albert, Sturgeon County and Edmonton attended the First Rider bus safety program.
The event, hosted by the Protestant school board and First Student Canada bus services, was open to all small children who were taking the bus for the first time.
“This is the fourth year that the program was held in St. Albert,” said Kris Salerno, transportation services manager for St. Albert Protestant Schools.
The children filed into SAM’s gym with their parents to watch a video about riding a school bus. Each part of the video was overwritten with a caption that stressed safety and though most of the students were preschoolers, one or two of them read the words out loud so everyone could hear.
The message that safety never goes out of style was repeated over and over in different ways. Once outside again the children searched beside the buses to find the safe standing area. And they pointed it out to each other and to their parents.
“Don’t stand there! That’s the danger zone,” they reminded each other.
Some children were excited, and one small boy at the back of the bus kept calling, “Here we go!” But another boy seemed frightened by the new surroundings and cried as the driver pulled away from the curb.
“This is a real bus,” said Cole Kremer, who said he was four but was turning five soon. “This is so fun!”
Tyler Beauregard, who will attend kindergarten at E.S. Gish, thought that “getting off the bus,” might be the most interesting part of the trip.
Carol Maloney had all three of her children in attendance but her son Griffin, who is going into Grade 4 at Sir Alexander Mackenzie school didn’t seem to mind, even though he had been to the First Rider program back in his own preschooler days.
“It’s good for safety,” Griffin instructed his younger brother Davis. “This will keep you safe.”
