Walking before school
Darla Slipke - Stillwater NewsPressLast month, Highland Park students walked 3,200 miles - the distance from Portland, Maine, to Hollywood, Calif. - to get to their book fair, which was called "Lights! Camera! Book Fair!"
They counted their steps throughout the month and tracked their path across a map of the United States, researching stops and using math calculations to determine their distance along the way.
Now school officials and students are continuing their efforts to stay active by implementing a "walking bus" on Wednesday mornings. A team of faculty walks from the school in two directions, picking up students along the way.
"That's the idea," said Principal Kurt Baze. "We walk a certain route, and parents get their kids to that route."
On Wednesday morning, they started at the school with a group of nine kids bundled in coats and hats. As they stood at the stop sign intersection of Ninth Avenue and Stallard Street to wait for stragglers, Baze called to a group of girls on the playground, and seven came running to join them.
Heather Mastin, the physical education teacher, took off with the girls toward the park on Third Avenue. The others started off down Stallard Street.
Tammy Moffat, a pre-kindergarten teacher, walked two weeks ago before spring break on the first day of the program, and she encouraged her students to join in this week. Moffat said the morning exercise got students going so they were ready to learn when they got to class.
"Instead of coming in all groggy, their blood is flowing and they're alert," she said.
For more information about the Safe Routes to School program, read Monday's print edition of the Stillwater NewsPress.
