Youth engagement

Connecting schools and youth community organizations to transit.
Illustration of people accessing light rail

What is the youth engagement program? 

Sound Transit’s youth engagement program works with students, schools, and other youth programs across our service area. The youth engagement program serves ages 3 through 21 and works with preschool classrooms, middle school leadership students, high school civics classes, young adult special education programs, summer camps, and more. 

As all of Sound Transit’s services are accessible, we are committed to working with adaptive classrooms and special education programs. We are enthusiastic to adapt our presentations and field trips to meet a variety of learning needs for all students. 

 

What can we bring to your school? 

Our foundational school presentation talks about what Sound Transit does, how to ride transit, and how to be safe around trains and tracks. We have done this presentation in all-school assemblies as well as classrooms. By modifying the content and adding activities, this can be delivered in as little as 20 minutes or as long as a 90-minute block period. We are happy to customize the presentation for your school based on age, group size, amount of time available, and additional topics of interest.

Please use this form to request a school presentation. 

The “Sound Transit Board Game” walks students through the steps of giant infrastructure projects to create a new light rail line. Developed with high school civics teachers, students work together to make decisions that the Sound Transit board makes along the lifespan of these project. It is a fun and collaborative way to learn about local transportation decision making. 

Sound Transit partners with Mill Creek Middle School leadership students each year for a marketing project with a problem-solving approach. Students work in groups as if they are marketing consultants, creating marketing campaigns for free youth fares and ORCA Lift. Last year, Sound Transit produced water bottle stickers directly from the student’s designs! 

Every year, we support schools across our service area who use transit for their field trips. All students ride for free, and using transit for your field trip adds a brand new learning opportunity. Below are some real world examples of local transit-based field trips:

  • A preschool program in Bothell took a ST Express bus to have lunch in the park in Woodinville.

  • Several elementary and middle schools in the Puyallup and Tacoma area took the Sounder to attend the Mariners' Weather Day game.

  • An elementary school near Mount Baker Station regularly uses Link light rail to visit museums downtown with their 2nd – 4th grade students.

  • A high school special education program took Link light rail to several different stations to explore the accessibility features at each station and on the train.

  • A middle school leadership class in Kent took Sounder, Link light rail, and the monorail to a tour of The Gates Foundation.

Sound Transit staff can help you plan your trip, visit your school beforehand to help your students prepare, and can provide free rides on Sound Transit services for adult staff and chaperones.

We are always open to new ideas and love to work on unique and diverse projects. Every student, classroom, and school has individual needs and interests and Sound Transit wants to do what it can to serve you. Let us know what you have in mind, and we will work with you to see what is possible. 

Please use this form to request a school presentation. 

 

Transit education resources

Educational videos and materials

  • Sound Transit created a brief safety video that can quickly be shared in class.
  • King County Metro has a downloadable Transit Education Curriculum for grades 2 through 12.
  • If you are in Snohomish County, Community Transit offers programming that teaches students transit basics like planning routes using online tools, safety, how to read a bus flag and timetable, and how to properly load their bike on the front of the bus.

stArt Exploring

  • StArt Exploring teaches elementary scholars science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts in addition to critical thinking skills through interactive on-line art activities, giving STEM ideas STEAM by adding "A" for art with the help of artist instructors. Teaching artist Carina A. del Rosario produced this stArt Exploring set of free, web-based video education resources with support from Sound Transit's art program, STart, for the Federal Way Link Extension project. 

Operation Lifesaver

  • Operation Lifesaver, Inc. is the only national non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives with free rail safety education presentations in communities throughout the U.S.

Youth ride free