On Wednesday, students from Niverville Elementary School (NES) joined over 3,500 schools in North America in participating in International Walk to School Day.

Students met at a church one block from NES before school started, and walked to the school from there in groups. Students who were bussed to school also participated by walking laps around the school playground. Matthew Fast, a grade five teacher at NES, explains why they chose to participate in I-Walk to School Day.

"We're starting to try to change things around our community and make it safer for kids to walk to school. So in an effort to promote walking or biking to school and less driving, we want to be part of events like I-Walk to School Day."

World-wide, schools in 40 different countries participated in the event. Fast notes that at NES, the majority of students also chose to take part in I-Walk to School Day.

"I think we're close to about 65% participation. I'm not quite sure about the numbers yet as I'm still waiting for results from a few classes to come in, but I would say upwards of about 200 to 250 students at least."

Fast adds this was the second year in a row they have taken part in the event, and he notes several other schools in Hanover School Division also participated.

A successful IWALK Day celebrated by Mapleton School & Green Action Centre!

Despite the chilly weather in the morning, International Walk to School Day 2012 was a great success with approximately 150 students, teachers, and the school principal all joining in the walk together on October 10^th! This year, Mapleton School in St. Andrews was selected as the recipient for a walk to school with Green Action Centre along with Councillor Russ Garvie. The event focuses on getting more kids active by walking and biking to school and over 65 schools in Manitoba and 40 countries worldwide will be participating over the month of October this year.

It was great to see the excitement among the students and staff there to participate on IWALK day, since every single student was out there walking. Mapleton School also committed to doing this walk the entire week to show students that it’s fun to participate! Since some of the students at Mapleton live farther away, this morning walk is also meant to show the school that even though busing is a reality for some, they can still join in with those who walk and bike in this event. The morning walk started just after 8:30 am in the school yard where the staff and students began the walk on the track laid out around the school. Everyone was happy to celebrate IWALK day, especially the students who had fun playing and chatting with their friends along the way. When everyone completed their walk around the track and arrived back at the school, Councillor Russ Garvie said a few words on why it’s important to be active and participate in International Walk to School Month. For participating in the event, every student in the school also got a small prize and sticker! Thanks to Mapleton School and Mrs. Bouchard, the school’s IWALK coordinator, for celebrating the event with Green Action Centre this year and setting a great example for schools all across Manitoba!

If your school would still like to participate, don’t worry, there’s still time! Register for IWALK here and your school will receive a kit with all the resources, posters and stickers you need! This event is a chance to promote active transportation to students over a day, a week, or the entire month of October.

In addition for participating, your school can be entered great prizes including great active transportation gear from Bikes&Beyond, Mountain Equipment Co-op, Healthy Schools in Motion and MPI! Just remember to send in your tally sheet before November 9^th!

Happy Walking!

By Lea Grezenda

Niverville Elementary Places Emphasis On Walking To School

A successful IWALK Day celebrated by Mapleton School & Green Action Centre!