On Tuesday, the children arrived at Little Caesars Arena believing they were about to celebrate their completion of the educational course but instead found out that each one would be receiving a new bicycle, helmet and lock.
Each one was personalized with the student's name.
"It's good," Harden said before taking off on his new bike, which he said was his third. "(I've been riding) since I was four."
The lessons definitely sank in for Aron, 9, from Harms Elementary.
When asked what was the first thing he planned to do as soon as he got his new bike home, he said, "Put my helmet on."
Each bicycle, purchased from Meijer and built through Meijer's partnership with National Assemblers, has a custom Michigan license plate representing each of the 10 schools that took part in the program - Bunche Preparatory Academy, Cooke STEM Academy, Dossin Elementary, Gardner Elementary, Garvey Academy, Golightly Education Center, Harms Elementary, Marquette Elementary, Sampson-Webber Leadership Academy and Wayne Elementary.
"Most do not have a bike and have never had bikes," said Pamela Moore, President and CEO of the Detroit Public Schools Foundation.
"We kept it so quiet. One student came up to me and asked, 'Are we getting bikes today?' I wasn't ready for that so I said, 'We're here to talk about the program we completed.' The Red Wings have done so much for the district this year. The partnership has been great."
Chris Granger, Ilitch Holdings group president for sports and entertainment, said this event has been in the works for several months and it was incredibly exciting to see the end result.
"Everybody remembers the first time they got on a bike, the first time they got their own bike, so to see everyone's eyes just light up when they walked out here, it's just heartwarming for all of the volunteers who spent so much time on this project," Granger said.
"Whether it's the Red Wings, the Tigers or any of the Ilitch companies we really understand our responsibility to give back and to make a difference. We talk often times about wanting to do things that unite and inspire Detroit and this falls right in this category."
Za'kia Pouncey, a second grader from Sampson-Webber Leadership Academy said, "I like it! (I'm) happy."
Also happy to be taking part in the event were Detroit Red Wings Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader and Danny DeKeyser.