Group organizes Walk to School Day

By Charnika Jett
May. 18, 2009    ·    7:43 a.m.

Students and parents got up a little earlier than usual Friday morning in order to get the true meaning of a head start before going to school.

Those who were able to brave the nippy weather participated in Walk to School Day at three Ypsilanti area schools.

The international program focuses on communities being more active by walking or riding a bike to school as the first step to change community culture and create environments that are more inviting for everyone, young and old.

By encouraging students to walk or bike to school, the program wants to enhance the health of kids, improve air quality and the environment and also to create safer routes for walking and biking.

Around 8 A.M. at Adams Elementary, parents parked their cars in the school lot and walked two blocks down to wait for the other students who arrived by bus.

Fifteen minutes later students, parents, and faculty gathered on the corner of Oak and Charles to greet the eight fully loaded school buses carrying energized kids who didn’t seem to mind their early arrival.

Charles Wilson, event coordinator at Human Services, carried red and white balloons to pump the students up about the walk.

“Safe routes to school is a federal funded program that’s been around for awhile,” Wilson said, still showing his excitement, “but it’s the first year that we were able to work with the Ypsilanti Schools that enrolled in the program.”

Along with Adams Elementary, Erickson Elementary and Chapelle Community School also participated in the walk.

Connie Thompson, Principal at Adams Elementary walked up and down to greet parents and faculty shifting in the sea of little ones.

“I’m very excited about this walk,” Thompson said. “We’ve been doing a lot with health and nutrition and this is a great way to start the morning.”

Although there are only a couple months of the school year left, Thompson is eager to continue promoting the importance of health and fitness among students.

“We’ll probably do this once a month. We’re actually going to do a fun walk for school for 30 minutes on Monday. This fits in line perfectly with what were doing here.”

Wilson also agrees with Thompson on continuing to do “Walk to School Day”, and that is why he is taking certain precautions to make sure they continue.

“We just did a walking audit to see what things might discourage parents to let their children walk to school,” Wilson said.

“For example, we’ll look at different trees and see which ones might obstruct a driver’s vision close near a cross walk. Or we may see parks with a lot glass in it. We don’t want kids walking through that to get to school.”

Although there is a lot of planning to do for this program, nothing can be done until the money is available.

“The timing is based on when federal dollars will become available,” Wilson said.

“Once that is taken care of, we’ll get together with stakeholders from each of the schools and design a plan to make the different routes to and from school safer so kids will be more encouraged to bike and walk to and from school,” Wilson said. “Also to reassure parents that this a viable option that their kids will be safe.

Kendall Gatewood, mother of student Karen Gatewood, was one of the two mothers who came out to show their support. While she walks her daughter to and from school everyday, she hopes that “Walk to School Day’ will encourage other kids to become healthier on their own.

“This is a healthy way for kids to get out and be active,” Gatewood said. “Maybe by doing this, kids will understand the healthy point of walking.”

After the kids walked to school, they met in the cafeteria to eat breakfast. This was definitely a great way to get a head start on a Friday morning.