Student Leaders on the Move
Celebrating the Bike Fed’s Inaugural Class of Transportation Ambassadors!
Congratulations to our 2025–26 Dane County High School Transportation Ambassadors on completing their yearlong paid internship with the Bike Fed’s Safe Routes to School team!
The Bike Fed is excited to celebrate the 2025–26 Transportation Ambassadors and all they accomplished during their internship. From June 2025-June 2026, these four high school students built skills in transportation planning, project management, and community advocacy while supporting youth bike education, exploring local transportation systems, and helping shape projects that encourage safe, active travel to school. Their creativity, leadership, and dedication made a lasting impact—from engaging younger students through bike camps to sharing youth perspectives with community partners and advancing school travel initiatives.
We are proud of all they’ve contributed to the Bike Fed and their schools and look forward to seeing how they continue to make a difference in their communities.
Now, let’s meet the members of the inaugural class of Bike Fed Transportation Ambassadors!
Maggie Benton
“My name is Maggie and I am 16 years old. I go to Vel Phillips Memorial High School and I will be a Junior next year. I love to make art, music, and do theater, and I also participate in my school’s bike club and NICA team.
I have really enjoyed my time working as a Transportation Ambassador. Some highlights include working at the MSCR camps this summer teaching elementary schoolers to bike safely and working with the Safe Routes to School team to work on my impact project.
My community impact project is to improve the parking lot and the areas surrounding the school to make it safer for walkers, bikers, and bus riders to get to school!
I will continue to work on my project through next school year and work as a Youth Coach to assist the next cohort of Transportation Ambassadors and to finish out my project.”
Caden Downing
“My name is Caden Downing, and I am a Junior at Madison West High School. I am an avid cyclist involved in mountain bike racing, bike advocacy, and community service projects. I enjoy finding ways to make biking more accessible and helping others learn about transportation options in their communities.
Being a Transportation Ambassador gave me the opportunity to connect with other students and transportation professionals who share a passion for sustainable transportation. I developed leadership, communication, and project-planning skills while learning more about transportation challenges and solutions in my community. One of my favorite parts was seeing how small projects can make a meaningful impact on encouraging active transportation.
For my Transportation Ambassador project, I created and expanded a Bike Repair Club at Madison West High School. I chose this project because I wanted to make cycling more accessible by helping students learn basic bike maintenance and keep their bikes in working condition. The project was successful in bringing students together around cycling, building repair skills, and creating a resource that can continue to benefit the school community in the future.
In the future, I hope to continue growing the West Bike Repair Club and explore additional projects that encourage biking as a practical and sustainable form of transportation. I am interested in learning more about bicycle advocacy, transportation planning, and ways to improve cycling infrastructure in communities. Long-term, I would like to stay involved in transportation-related work that helps make active transportation safer and more accessible for everyone.”
Marlo Hunter
“I’m a Junior at Madison East High School. I’m a member of the East Bike Repair Club.
I really enjoyed leading the bike camps, I felt like I really got good at teaching kids how to ride bikes. I also felt like I got good at understanding bike design within cities.
My project was to install more bike racks at East. I chose it because I felt like there was a lack of quality bike racks in some places around the school.
I’m going to continue advocating for bike racks at East. I am also planning on continuing helping run the East Bike Repair Club.”
Aidan Waller
“I am Senior at Madison East High School who is interested in the environmental science world.
This job gave me the opportunity to make change in my community with my project and help kids have fun biking in summer camps. I also got to learn more about the biking community in Madison and how to repair my bike.
My project was to open up another door at East high school to relieve traffic on 4th street. My project is still in progress with the principal still making a decision on whether or not to open the 7th street door at the start of the next school year.
While I’m not sure if I want to go into transportation in the future, I will still take my skills of leadership and project building into my future career. I will always love biking around and will continue to bike as much as I can.”
Building a Better, More Bike-Friendly Future
From launching bike repair programs to advocating for school transportation improvements, these ambassadors showed what is possible when young people are empowered to lead. Congratulations to the 2025–26 cohort, and thank you for helping build a safer, more bike-friendly future for Dane County.