What’s a “Freikometer”?
I heard about an interesting idea that is gaining momentum in this area and I couldn’t wait to write about it. Freiker (FREquent bIKER) is a program that promotes healthy, sustainable communities by encouraging children to walk or bike to school as often as possible. Each of the schools that are involved in the program has a solar powered “Freikometer” (solar powered computer on a post with an RFID or radio frequency identification reader) on their campus and each child who registers for the program has an ID tag. As the kids (or Freikers as they are affectionately known) arrive at school they walk by the Freikometer and it makes a cool beep to let them know that their commute has been logged in for the day. The kids love having their progress tracked. The ones involved are more physically active, they’re learning about ways to prevent obesity, they’re involved in reducing traffic and congestion on local streets, and they’re gaining confidence since their parents don’t have to drive them to school everyday.
Jon Simms, a parent with a child at Almond Elementary school, first brought this program to California. He gathered enough donations to pay for the Freikometer at Almond and he can monitor the system from his home computer. He pulled up the information for Almond school and showed me how many times each child commuted by bike or on foot. The mileage is tracked by the Freiker system and Jon sends out weekly newsletters telling the students and parents how far they have traveled. This year the goal is to circumnavigate the globe! So far, the children from just this one school have traveled enough miles to get to Siberia. In his newsletters Jon includes photos of where they are in their imaginary trip-around-the-world. All kinds of awards and prizes are given out to the kids that participate in the program. Last year the kids from Almond traveled across the United States, down the east coast and back to the west coast across the southern states. The program is even more popular this year, judging by the fact that they’re in Siberia.
Jon explained to me that the program is currently being covered almost entirely by grants from “Safe Routes to School” for schools that want to get started. The cost to start is relatively minor and the school would just need someone (a volunteer presumably) to learn about the program and track the children’s progress. There are a total of 4 schools in this area that either have the program up and running, or are in the process of starting it: Almond Elementary School, Egan Junior High, Springer Elementary, and Santa Rita School. Jon voluntarily gives hours of his time to the Freiker program at Almond school and he helps others schools get started. It’s parents like this that help make our local schools so incredible.
Jon’s regular job is in information technology. He owns Team Logic IT in Mountain View. He worked in high tech for 28 years and always enjoyed solving problems and dealing with people, so owning his own Team Logic IT business is perfect for him. His company manages, repairs and provides preventative maintenance services on computer systems and networks for all different kinds of businesses. He even can help a growing company relocate their entire IT infrastructure to a new location if needed. We trust him enough to take care of our network at the Chamber of Commerce.
Jon, thanks for all you do for the community.
Tagged with Freiker, Freikometer, Jon Simms, Team Logic IT
Hip-hip-hooray!! I hope this idea spreads to other communities and schools. There is nothing quite so nightmarish as trying to navigate in the vicinity of a school in the morning or afternoon as students are arriving via behemoths driven by parents who seem to have eyes only for their own children. Its dangerous being a pedestrian, a cyclist or even another motorist. To have more students ride their bikes or walk would be a godsend in so many ways. It would be fun for the students, encourage a healthier lifestyle and be kinder to the environment. Ride on!!