PHOTO BY ALENA KUZUB
Johnson Elementary School Principal Kevin Andrews biked to the State House in Boston Thursday to receive the school’s award for encouraging students to walk.
By BRIDGET TURCOTTE
NAHANT — When the Johnson Elementary School principal learned the institution was receiving an award for encouraging students to walk or bike to school, he rode his bicycle 16 miles to the Massachusetts State House to pick it up.
The Johnson School was one of nearly 80 Safe Routes to School program partners recognized Thursday morning for their efforts in fostering programs for students to safely walk and bike to school.
The school was one of eight to be given a designated “Honor Roll” award for recognition of exemplary programs, taking home the Walking All-Star and Gold awards.
Principal Kevin Andrews, who rides his bicycle 11 miles from Beverly to work each morning with the help of a Copenhagen Wheel, a device on his rear wheel that enhances movement to make pedaling more powerful, paused briefly before setting out for the State House to pick up his students’ award.
“Programs like Massachusetts Safe Routes to School are extremely important to public safety in the Commonwealth’s communities,” said Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. “By educating and encouraging our students at an early age to safely walk and bike, we encourage them to be independent and empower them to make healthy transportation choices now and in the future.”
The Massachusetts Safe Routes to School Program, sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation with funds from the Federal Highway Administration, promotes safer routes for students to get to school by fostering partnerships between advocacy groups, law enforcement, education leaders, and public health departments.
On Winter Walk Day in February, an annual Safe Routes initiative to start schools off by encouraging them all to walk on a specific day, more than 83 percent of Johnson School students walked to school despite the morning’s snow and cold weather.
The Parent Teacher Organization upped the game by offering an incentive for classrooms with the highest percentage of participation — a size 14 sneaker turned Golden Shoe Trophy.
The trophy was passed to the classroom with the highest percentage each Wednesday for the remainder of the school year, said Principal Kevin Andrews.
Prior to the initiative, only 30 percent of the school children were walking daily, despite the island’s tiny size. Meeting places were arranged to encourage walking together as a group activity and fifth graders were trained as walking mentors.
Within the year, 90 percent of students were consistently walking to school on each Walking Wednesday.
“Our participation rate was far and above any other town,” said Andrews. “Nahant is small in terms of square footage and it’s safe to walk through. We don’t have many barriers. But we did a lot of small programs around educating students about walking and getting parents involved.”
Medford’s Brooks Elementary School and Roberts Elementary School each also received the Gold award.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.