Oct. 5, 2011 -- Western Nebraska Community College softball players spent the early morning hours on Wednesday walking Northfield Elementary students to school as part of the International Walk to School Day.
This one-day event in the United States is part of an international effort in more than 40 countries to encourage more families to get out of their cars and onto their feet to enjoy the many benefits of safely walking and bicycling to school.
Northfield Elementary in Gering had drop off points for bus students as well as other students to walk to school with not only members of the WNCC softball team, but also with community members including Gering Mayor Ed Mayo. Mayo later read a proclamation at an all-school assembly.
The Cougar softball players enjoyed getting out in the fresh air, showing the students that no matter what age, it is beneficial to walk to school.
“I think it was a good experience for us to come and walk with the students because it shows the kids that at all ages it’s OK to walk to school,” freshman Sasha Duran-Fong of Wellington, Colo., said. “Walking is good exercise and gives you a chance at smelling the fresh air, and it is good bonding time with friends.”
The main purpose of International Walk to School Day is to promote exercise as well as safe routes to school.
“As students across the country take to the streets this year for International Walk to School Day, it’s critical that parents and caregivers make safety their top priority,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in an event press release. “Whether they’re walking to school or heading down the block, children need to know to look both ways, use crosswalks, and stay alert to stay safe.”
For many of the Cougar softball players, they walked to school a lot when they were in elementary and middle school so they realize that safety comes first. Many of the players walked in bigger cities than Gering or Scottsbluff. Duran-Fong said she would walk not to school, but from school to where her mom worked every day.
Bianca Duran, a freshman from Westminster, Colo., said it is important to show the kids safe ways to walk to school. Duran said she walked to school in both elementary and middle school and she didn’t mind it.
“I walked to elementary and middle school because my elementary school was right down the street, literally, and my middle school was straight up the street,” the Cougar pitcher said. “Also, my parents had already left for work, so I had to.”
This year’s Walk to School Day recognized the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety. Earlier in the morning, there was a ribbon-cutting at the new pathway that connects the Bellevue Edition with Country Club road for the kids’ safety.
"The goal of the Decade of Action for Road Safety is to save 5 million lives and prevent
50 million injuries over the next 10 years across the globe, and International Walk to School Day represents what the Decade is all about," said Dr. Bella Dinh-Zarr, Director of Road Safety, FIA Foundation, on behalf of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. “The students who walk with us today are a symbol of the challenge facing us—to make sure that that every child, in every country, can walk to school safely every day.”
Duran, who graduated from Standley Lake High School, said there are many advantages of walking to school.
“The advantages I see are that it is a good way to get in some exercise,” she said. “Also, it is a chance to wake yourself up before school.”
Duran said for her to walk to school with the youngsters was beneficial.
“I really enjoyed walking the kids to school because I was able to get to know some of the kids and talk to them about school and Halloween,” Duran said.
Sophomore Sarah Hawryluk, of Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada, said events like this brings the community together.
“It made me feel good to know that a community can come together and participate in an event like this,” Hawryluk said. “It also helped me make friends in the community.”
Hawryluk said she never walked to school because she lived in the country, but that walking not only to school, but other places is good exercise.
“The main thing walking does is give you exercise,” she said. And she hopes seeing so many people walking will prompt kids to be “outside more rather than play video games and stay inside.”
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