after proofing, please save as ahead_winterwalk to school for feb. 23 express
Youngsters at five local schools will bundle up to participate in the third annual Winter Walk to School Day sponsored by Wisconsin Safe Routes to School on Feb. 24.
Students at Shawano Community Middle School, Olga Brener, Hillcrest, Sacred Heart Parish School and St. James Lutheran School are expected to join schools around Wisconsin to celebrate the fun of walking to school during the winter months.
Over the last 30 years, the percentage of children biking and walking to school has declined from 50 percent or more to now closer to about 15 percent, according to a Safe Routes to School news release. Today, parents drive as many as 50 percent of the children traveling to school, and school bus trips account for an increasing share of the rest.
The purpose of Walk to School Day is to start to reverse those trends.
Terri Schultz, principal at Olga Brener Intermediate School, said events such as Walk to School Day get not only the students involved, but also the staff and parents. It also serves as an opportunity to focus on the importance of physical activity, safety, air quality, and building bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods.
Safe Routes to School is an international movement that promotes walking and biking to school in order to improve health, safety and the environment.
To join or learn more about Shawano Area Safe Routes to School, contact Nancy Schultz, family living educator for the Shawano County University of Wisconsin-Extension, at nancy.schultz@ces.uwex.edu or 715-526-6136.
