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. The popular WSB is now entering its 11th year of operation.
The Walking School Bus Team
Charlene Lee, Director
Charlene grew up riding horses and experimenting with how many flips in a row she could do on her backyard trampoline. After graduating from Auburn University, she worked as a high school PE teacher, coached gymnastics, and directed adventure therapy programs in adolescent psychiatry and alternative juvenile justice settings. She spearheaded the community building of the original Fairhopers Community Park which led to work on healthy community issues. Charlene’s passion for walk to school efforts was ignited by participating in the early Baldwin County Trailblazer initiatives encouraging local schools to participate in International Walk to School efforts. Charlene has now come full circle in using her diverse skills & experience in her current work on the Walking School Bus program. Charlene initiated the Trailblazer partnership with Fairhope Elementary School to establish Alabama’s first daily Walking School Bus program. Charlene’s hobbies are walking, cycling, hiking, reading and kayaking. In 2017, the City of Fairhope awarded Charlene the Volunteer of the Year award for her work in initiating the WSB.
Click HERE to view Charlene's Volunteer of the Year acceptance speech.
Cathy Hudson, FWE Coordinator
Cathy Hudson has been walking with the Walking School Bus program from the beginning days at the K-1 Center. She was very excited to continue to grow this healthy school program with Charlene Lee when she was transferred to Fairhope Elementary School in the Fall of 2011. Cathy was awarded the Mayor’s Volunteer of the Year Award in 2015 for her work with the Fairhope Elementary School Walking School Bus program, the FAST Summer Swim Team and her position on the Fairhope Recreation Board. Cathy continues to serve on the Rec Board and has been Coaching the FAST Summer Swim Team since 2001. Cathy and her husband Rick met as students at Virginia Tech. After graduation, they married and started their family in Dayton, Ohio. Their son Ross is living in Norfolk, VA working as a Nuclear Engineer for NAVSEA on submarines and aircraft carriers. Their daughter Olivia is at Colorado Mesa University completing her degree in Biology with hopes to enter the dental field. In her spare time, Cathy has joined some of her fellow teachers at FWES running for exercise and in supporting some local charity fun runs.
Tammy Leytham, Volunteer
Tammy Leytham has been volunteering with the Walking School Bus for the several years, first starting out walking her great-nephew to kindergarten. Since then, she's pitched in to help with social media, as crossing guard and with car drop-off. She grew up in Mobile, graduated from Liberty University in Virginia, and worked more than 25 years as a journalist on the Gulf Coast and at newspapers across the South. Now a resident of Fairhope, she writes for various magazines, social media and websites. She loves to tout the wonderful attributes of the Eastern Shore, and volunteers in various ways throughout the community. Most days, you can catch her at Page & Palette, Refuge Coffee, or the Fairhope Public Library. She also enjoys listening to live music at local venues, kayaking and paddleboarding.
Allyson Russell, WSB Librarian
My family participated in the WSB for three years, and we loved every minute of it. Before coming to Fairhope, we lived in Louisiana and I homeschooled our oldest. Every year in April, which is National Poetry Month, he and I would copy short poems onto scraps of paper for Poem in Your Pocket Day and hand them out to all his friends at our homeschool co-op. When we started doing WSB with our two younger children, and I saw how the countdown worked, I conceived the idea to bring my love of poetry to our Fairhope friends! Beginning in March each year, I start handing out short poems to any child who wants one. I urge them to memorize the poems so that when April arrives they can say a poem for countdown. Memorizing poetry has many benefits for children. It helps them with literacy and public speaking, and gives them a sense of confidence of having achieved a goal. There's never any pressure to memorize though, and many of the children end up simply reading the poems instead! In 2020, I had just started handing out poems in the second week of March when everything stopped for COVID-19, so we missed out on Poetry Month. I continue supplying the young poets of WSB to help celebrate each April. Even though we no longer participate in WSB, I am delighted to do everything I can to continue to get poetry into the minds and hearts of our kids.
Julie Gerstenschlager, Technology Support & FWE Walking Teacher
Julie is a fifth grade teacher at Fairhope West Elementary School. Her teaching experience spans from pre-kindergarten to sixth grade. For more than a decade she served as a Technology Coordinator & Technology Teacher at Orange Beach Elementary. Now she is putting that knowledge and experience to good use for the Walking School Bus. Julie lives in Fairhope with her husband and their two sons. With deep family roots in Fairhope, Julie and her family are always looking for local art and music to enjoy and support.