MILWAUKEE — After seeing TMJ4's Project: Drive Safer story on a Milwaukee area company that creates tools and devices to help combat reckless driving, a 5th-grade teacher at Bader Hillel Academy decided to bring her class to the showroom for a lesson about safety.
When stepping into the showroom at TAPCO in Brown Deer, it's clear that the technology and signs there can do more than just light up streets and highways across the country, but also a child's imagination and understanding of what it takes to keep those streets and highways safe.
Dr. Jennifer Tracey's 5th grade class went on a tour of TAPCO. The company manufactures most of the signs and technologies that many of us drive pass daily. Devices that can save lives.
Tracey's class works on a project throughout the year that is focused on effective cities, communication and safety. So, when she saw TMJ4's report explaining TAPCO's work to the community, she reached out to leaders at the company to ask if she could bring her students by.
"At this age, they're so impressionable. I know, I'm a mother, I understand," said Lindsay Harvey, TAPCO's Service Solutions Director. She led the tour for students. "It is something that, hopefully, they will take with them through their entire lives."
Harvey says the students, many of whom were impressed by the design and technology, can take these lessons home with them.
"If safety can be flashy and we can learn a little more about how the system looks, I think that they'll be more interested in the long run," said Harvey.
Dr. Tracey said these students, who are Jewish, are learning about devices that she knows they need to be particularly aware of.
"Usually from Friday sundown until Saturday after sundown they walk everywhere in the service of Shabbat so, like, safety is really important, especially for pedestrians," she said.
The lesson that the students took away from the field trip is extremely personal to Dr. Tracey.
"I personally lost a student about five years ago to a hit and run in Florida, and that left a huge impact on me," she said.
For the kids, the flashy technology and the opportunity to ask anything they want is a cool chance to break out of the classroom for a lesson on being safe. This is a lesson both kids and adults need to prioritize.
"I hope everybody learns a lesson from these kids and their teachers about the importance of prioritizing safety and just being aware when you're about and about," said Harvey. "Making sure that you understand that there's not drivers on the road that are paying attention but there are systems that can keep you safe."
