SHORELINE, Wash. — Hundreds of elementary school students in Shoreline have a new helmet to use when cycling or on a scooter - all thanks to a new partnership between a local woman and the state’s largest children’s hospital.
It was a fitting moment for Schuyler Peters, who was focused on giving back to her community.
"People need helmets,” Peters said. “I wanted to focus on young people, and I wondered how I could figure out a way to bring helmets to them."
Peters spearheaded a helmet distribution event on Monday as hundreds of kids filed in and out of a Ridgecrest Elementary classroom throughout the day to get fitted with a new helmet.
"It can be life or death to put a helmet on your head,” Peters said. “Especially when we got developing brains like we do here."
The 24-year-old attended Ridgecrest Elementary School. She saw a need for more helmets after the King County Health Board repealed the citywide bicycle helmet law in 2022. Peters said she understands why the board repealed the law due to some discriminatory issues associated with it. However, she still wants to encourage people to stay safe.
"Everybody agrees the best way to protect your head on bicycles, scooters, anything is wearing a helmet,” Peters said. “They can provide immense harm reduction for people for traumatic brain injuries."
Peters reached out to local health and law enforcement agencies to help her get helmets for kids. Now Seattle Children's Hospital is footing the bill for 1,000 new helmets for students at Ridgecrest and Meridian Park Elementary schools in Shoreline.
"As people grow, as people break them, as people lose them, we still want that to be available to them and so Seattle's Children's has made it possible that this is not just a one-time thing," Peters said.
Peters said incoming Ridgecrest and Meridian Park Elementary school kindergarteners will get new helmets in the coming years.
She hopes this story is a lesson to not only wear a helmet but to follow your passion.
"Just giving it a shot and finding something that you're passionate about and you want to be able to support community with the options are really endless,” Peters said. "And something that's meaningful and something that makes a big difference is sometimes just a call away."
Peters hopes to expand this helmet program to more students and schools next year.