Local community supports walk to school day
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RONAN — In 1969, 42 percent of school children walked or biked to school, but by 2001 that number shrunk to 25 percent. Today, it’s even less, Ronan Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Rolfsness reported.
But on Wednesday of last week, the local community came together to provide kids with a safe and healthy walk to school. On International Walk to School Day about 250 Ronan students, parents and teachers strolled or biked to K. William Harvey Elementary School or Ronan Middle School.
“Kids learned … it really doesn’t take that much more effort, and I bet they all felt so much better by lunchtime,” Rolfsness said.
The Ronan Parks and Recreation Department and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Health and Fitness set up stations leading to K. William Harvey Elementary School and the Ronan Middle School.
At the stations, kids received breakfast bars, bananas, juice and water donated by St. Luke Community Hospital, Women for Wellness, Wal-Mart and Mission Mart.
Goodies such as pedometers, provided by Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Health and Fitness, and pencils, reflectors, stickers and coloring books, provided by Montana Department of Transportation, were also given out at the stations.
The Ronan Police Department was out in full force, directing traffic on Round Butte Road, but even with a speed reader set up to track cars’ speeds, some drivers refused to heed the police and stop at crosswalk.
But that was a rarity. Most drivers were respectful of the pedestrians’ right of way.
The event benefited the community in more ways than teaching motorists about sharing the road with pedestrians and cyclists, Rolfsness explained.
With childhood obesity on the rise and more and more pollutants destroying our environment, International Walk to School Day attempted to meet those issues at the source. Encouraging families to walk or bike to school instead of hopping in the car and driving.
“I think it’s important that we show kids and parents that we are trying to do something that is not only educational, but nutritional and (good for) fitness,” CSKT Health and Fitness Educator and Fitness Manager Margene Asay said.
“That’s what we try to do in tribal health,” she added.
And healthy kids perform better and have higher graduation rates, Rolfsness noted.
Rolfsness was so enthusiastic about the event, that she already has plans for a reservation-wide event next year that may include hot chocolate.
“But that doesn’t mean you wait a whole year to walk to school,” Asay said.
