Alabama's First Daily Walking School BusWhat exactly is a Walking School Bus? Children meet at a designated “walk stop” each morning and walk to school under the supervision of adult “bus drivers”. In addition to having fun while getting daily exercise and learning street safety, children arrive to school ready to learn. These “buses” cut down on the traffic congestion and poor air quality associated with long car lines. Four Fairhope Elementary School teachers (Cathy Hudson, Julie Gerstenschlager, Wilson McDuff, and Elizabeth Orfanello) participate with the WSB.
Learn more about the origins of the Walking School Bus (WSB) on the ABOUT page. |
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What is a Walking School Bus?
Click here to see the WSB video:
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WSB Featured in PORTICO's Spring 2018 Issue
Read the full article online at the Portico Eastern Shore website:
http://www.mirabelsmagazinecentral.com/DigitalEdition/index.html?id=15698608-67a5-44b0-b22d-2054e0b9e966
http://www.mirabelsmagazinecentral.com/DigitalEdition/index.html?id=15698608-67a5-44b0-b22d-2054e0b9e966
Fairhope’s Walking School Bus Gets Children To School In The Most Delightful Way
Monday, September 25th, 2017
By Jessica Sawyer for This is Alabama
It’s 7:15 on the first Friday morning of the school year and more than 100 kids run around the green space behind the Fairhope Library as parents look on.
The children quickly find their place in line when Charlene Lee, director of the Walking School Bus, calls them to attention. Within seconds, and a “Let’s roll” battle cry, this moveable community sets out on a half-mile trek to Fairhope Elementary School.
It’s a now-celebrated process that happens every single school day in this town, rain or shine.
Lee, who has a long history of effecting change in this community, developed the Fairhope Walking School Bus after years of participating in the International Walk to School Day and a year-long workshop with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
“They found out that if someone is obese as a child they have an 80 percent chance of being obese as an adult,” said Lee. “All this work on childhood issues found that if you change behaviors before age 10, they tend to stay for a lifetime. We decided that there is nothing better to change lives than daily habits.”
In Fairhope, the international day soon morphed into a monthly walk. But Lee realized that it wasn’t enough to make a difference.
“I remember thinking, ‘What does once a year really do?’” Lee said. “Then we did it once a month and I thought, ‘Well, what does that really do?’ That doesn’t change health. It was neat and it was fun and kids loved it, but it didn’t change health. The only way to change health is daily walks.”
In the 2013-2014 school year, the pilot year for the daily walks, they averaged just 12 kids a walk. The next school year, the average doubled.
“I kept going because I know it can be done,” Lee said. “I’m very optimistic and I’m persistent; I love this program.”
The persistence paid off and this year more than 175 children are registered to participate. With drop-off beginning after 7 a.m. and a 7:20 a.m. start, time is of the essence for the team of volunteers dedicated to the program. For Lee, the hard work is well worth it for the proven benefits to the children – namely, more focus for the school day.
“They run and they play chase and they do all this wonderful, beautiful playing before we get started,” Lee said. “The research is showing nationally that they’re just better able to sit in school and absorb – and it has a domino effect. If they’re active at the beginning of the day, they tend to be active more the entire day. But they don’t need to know anything about it being good, they just need to know it’s fun.”
Fairhope’s daily orchestrated walk is the first in the state but if Lee has her way, it won’t be the last.
“My hope is that it spreads across the state of Alabama and becomes real at many schools,” said Lee. “I want to impact a way larger population than our area.”
Source: http://www.thisisalabama.org/2017/09/25/fairhopes-walking-school-bus-gets-children-school-delightful-way/
Monday, September 25th, 2017
By Jessica Sawyer for This is Alabama
It’s 7:15 on the first Friday morning of the school year and more than 100 kids run around the green space behind the Fairhope Library as parents look on.
The children quickly find their place in line when Charlene Lee, director of the Walking School Bus, calls them to attention. Within seconds, and a “Let’s roll” battle cry, this moveable community sets out on a half-mile trek to Fairhope Elementary School.
It’s a now-celebrated process that happens every single school day in this town, rain or shine.
Lee, who has a long history of effecting change in this community, developed the Fairhope Walking School Bus after years of participating in the International Walk to School Day and a year-long workshop with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
“They found out that if someone is obese as a child they have an 80 percent chance of being obese as an adult,” said Lee. “All this work on childhood issues found that if you change behaviors before age 10, they tend to stay for a lifetime. We decided that there is nothing better to change lives than daily habits.”
In Fairhope, the international day soon morphed into a monthly walk. But Lee realized that it wasn’t enough to make a difference.
“I remember thinking, ‘What does once a year really do?’” Lee said. “Then we did it once a month and I thought, ‘Well, what does that really do?’ That doesn’t change health. It was neat and it was fun and kids loved it, but it didn’t change health. The only way to change health is daily walks.”
In the 2013-2014 school year, the pilot year for the daily walks, they averaged just 12 kids a walk. The next school year, the average doubled.
“I kept going because I know it can be done,” Lee said. “I’m very optimistic and I’m persistent; I love this program.”
The persistence paid off and this year more than 175 children are registered to participate. With drop-off beginning after 7 a.m. and a 7:20 a.m. start, time is of the essence for the team of volunteers dedicated to the program. For Lee, the hard work is well worth it for the proven benefits to the children – namely, more focus for the school day.
“They run and they play chase and they do all this wonderful, beautiful playing before we get started,” Lee said. “The research is showing nationally that they’re just better able to sit in school and absorb – and it has a domino effect. If they’re active at the beginning of the day, they tend to be active more the entire day. But they don’t need to know anything about it being good, they just need to know it’s fun.”
Fairhope’s daily orchestrated walk is the first in the state but if Lee has her way, it won’t be the last.
“My hope is that it spreads across the state of Alabama and becomes real at many schools,” said Lee. “I want to impact a way larger population than our area.”
Source: http://www.thisisalabama.org/2017/09/25/fairhopes-walking-school-bus-gets-children-school-delightful-way/
History
After a 6 year tradition of monthly themed “Smart Walks”, Baldwin County Trailblazers partnered with Fairhope Elementary School in 2013 to launch the first daily Walking School Bus program in the state of Alabama.
High Mileage Recognition Program
Students who walk 70% of the days of a month will receive a foot bead in PE class. The first month that a student walks 80% of the days in a month, they will receive a plastic WSB book bag tag.
WSB T-shirts
Please contact Walking School Bus Director Charlene Lee at 251-402-2795 or walkingschoolbusfes@gmail.com to arrange pick up of your WSB shirt. The shirts will be available for pick up at the WSB drop off location.
Temporary Change to Student Drop-off Location
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Temporary Location Instructions
From 7:05-7:20 am on South School Street - corner of Fairhope Ave. and South School St. Cars pull up to cones on School Street to drop off students. Please continue South after drop off to keep traffic moving. You may walk with your child(ren) or just drop them off. |
Walking School Bus Sponsors for 2018-2019 School Year
Presenting Sponsors:
-City of Fairhope
-Baldwin County Trailblazers
-M.W. Smith, Jr. Foundation
-The Craft Family Foundation
Title Sponsor:
-Fairhope Rotary Club
Gold Sponsor:
-Fairhope Title Services, LLC
Silver Sponsors:
-Heart Group of the Eastern Shore
- Dr. Ben and Miranda Schrubbe
-National Bank of Commerce
- Kopesky & Britt
- Cori & Lynn Yonge
- Thompson Engineering
- Chew Financial Group
- Russell Thompson Butler Houston
- FIT by Jessica
- Fulcrum Construction Group
Bronze Sponsors:
-Valery Wiseman Smith
-John A. Robertson Insurance Agency, INC
-Eastern Shore OBGYN
-Trustmark
-Sawgrass Consulting, LLC
-Eastern Shore Children’s Clinic
-Michelle Gravat Insurance Agency
-Fairhope Physical Therapy
-Pro Cycle & Tri
-Running Wild
-Baldwin County Sewer Service, LLC
-Kahlbau Excavation & Demolition
-Citizens Bank
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The Walking School Bus (WSB) is a program of the Baldwin County Trailblazers which is a 501 (C) (3) nonprofit.
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