By KEN CARPENTER
Great Bend Post
Perfect attendance paid off for 45 elementary school students in Great Bend last week. They were each awarded a bicycle for making it to school on time for the entire school year.
The annual Perfect Attendance Bike Program provided nine bicycles to each of Great Bend's five elementary schools. 69 students qualified for the prize, so the winners were chosen in a drawing.
Karen Shaner created the program nine years ago. She is still serving as the volunteer coordinator and explained how students could achieve perfect attendance during a pandemic.
"They excluded the quarantine days this year," Shaner said. "That was not counted against them."
This year's program had a new feature. Shaner says members of Great Bend's Pilot Club pitched in to provide high-quality bicycle helmets.
"The Pilot Club showed up at each school when they had a drawing, and they fitted the helmets onto the students," Shaner said.
The Midwest Energy Community Fund, Wal-Mart and 35 other donors provided the money for the bikes. Shaner says she plans to coordinate the project again next year.