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Written by Shayna Schertz, Wisconsin Rapids Safe Routes to School Coordinator

Walk to School Day

During the month of October, our community will join schools from around the country to celebrate Walk to School Day. Children from participating schools will be walking to school on October 26th along with parents, teachers and community leaders.

During October students, parents, teachers and community members in every state demonstrate the role walking and bicycling to school can play in student health and safety. Hundreds of thousands of students, parents and communities representing more than 3,700 schools across America, will walk and bicycle to school to celebrate International Walk to School Day.

Walk to School Day was founded in 1997 as a way to bring community leaders and children together to build awareness of the need for communities to be more walkable. By 2002, children, parents, teachers and community leaders in all 50 states and the District of Columbia joined nearly 3 million walkers around the world to celebrate the second annual International Walk to School Day. What use to be a one-day event, held on October 5th, has grown to a month-long celebration. Walk to School Day 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.

"Each year this event continues to reinforce the importance of safer environments for walking and bicycling, more physical activity, fewer car trips, and a cleaner environment for students, parents and all community members. It's critical that parents and caregivers make safety their top priority. We can stress the importance of the benefits of walking and exercising, but without doing so safely those messages may not matter. This event has been a catalyst to permanent improvements that make walking and bicycling to school safer transportation options year round.” Shayna Schertz, Wisconsin Rapids Safe Routes to School Coordinator.

Walk to School Day is being organized through the City of Wisconsin Rapids Safe Routes to School grant. The Safe Routes to School program is a great example of how communities use federal funds to improve safety for child pedestrians and bicyclists and to help children build healthy habits by walking and bicycling to and from schools. For more information about the City of Wisconsin Rapids Safe Routes to School grant, visit our website at http://www.ncwrpc.org/wrsrts/