Buddy Up Contest

The Buddy Up annual contest promotes groups of students to walk, bike, carpool, or take the bus together.  Healthy habits are more likely to stick when students and their families support each other. There’s safety in numbers as groups are more easily seen by drivers.  Best of all, friendships and fun memories are formed!

School communities are invited to nominate Buddy Up groups each fall.  Notifications are sent to schools to advertise the Buddy Up Contest in Mid-September.   

The 2025 Winners!

GLENWOOD ELEMENTARY: Giovanni Seligson 1st grade, Ezio Seligson 5th grade, Logan Davido 4th grade, Esten Coe 4th grade

They call themselves the “Strand Fam” because they all live in the Strand community at the Loch Lomond Marina. The group has been buddied up since each child was in kindergarten, and they continue to commute to school together five days a week. They typically ride 2–3 times per week, on bad weather days, they carpool in their families’ minivans and SUVs. Remarkably, these riders who once resisted biking now beg their parents to let them roll every single day. The Strand Fam kids are close friends who genuinely enjoy the time they share on these mornings. They love chatting, supporting one another, and experiencing how the morning exercise energizes them for the school day..

MANOR ELEMENTARY: Quinn Gaffney 4th grade, Camilla Hutchinson 4th grade, Kaya Putanoff 4th grade

They all meet and walk together from our house to the school (3/4 of a mile a way) and love getting a chance to chat together while walking and running. There is a neat trail that they are able to take for part of the way to avoid the busy roads when it’s not too muddy. When they have extra time they will walk further up the nature trail and take in the views. As they have done it more and more, more kids have periodically joined (one day there were 7 of them from Kindergarten to 5th grade!) and they have all loved starting their day that way!

HALL MIDDLE: Julia Hegarty, Julia Silviera, Maya Hajnal

Julia Silveira is the one that lives the farthest, she rides her bike to Julia’s Hegarty’s home and they both ride together to Maya’s home. They feel like they are grown ups and they are not afraid because they have their friends with them. They have fun on their way and they even want to leave home earlier so they have more time to enjoy the way and to hang out before classes. This moment makes school a much more fun experience and gets them more excited to go to school. 

WHITE HILL MIDDLE: Parker Clifford, Alafair Sparrow, Riley Johanssen, Phoenix Gleason

These girls have been walking to school together since Kindergarten! Now that they are in Middle School, they enjoy the parent free hang session that walking to school allows them to catch up. It’s a great way for them to connect and get their gossip out before class starts!