Day promotes walking to school
STANHOPE. Valley Road School students have taken part in the national event since 2014.
Stanhope /
| 24 Oct 2023 | 07:24
WK1 Students walk to Valley Road School in Stanhope on Oct. 4 as part of the annual Walk to School Day. (Photo by Sarah Ely)
WK2 Melissa McCutcheon of Avenues in Motion shows students how to measure air quality. (Photo by Nick Lalama)
WK3 Eighth-graders Dylan Kelly, left, and Donovan Vergano walk to school Oct. 4. (Photo by Nick Lalama)
Kindergartner Violet Eigenrauch poses with her father, Nathan. (Photo by Nick Lalama)
Kindergartner Ian Perez is dressed for crazy hair day Oct. 4, part of the Week of Respect at Valley Road School. (Photo by Nick Lalama)
Eighth-grader Leo Castellana walks to school most days.
On Oct. 4, he was joined by many more students participating in the annual Walk to School Day at Valley Road School in Stanhope.
Leo thought that was a great way “to encourage people to get out of bed.”
He thinks that the district should hold Walk to School Days more often because “it’s cool.”
Two other eighth-graders, Dylan Kelly and Donovan Vergano, said they walked to school for the exercise.
Sister and brother Emily and Joshua Perry, both seventh-graders, were the first walkers to arrive at the school.
Joshua said he didn’t mind walking, and Emily said walking to school is a good idea because “cars are bad for the environment.”
Seventh-grader Braden Lattari and his brother Mason said walking to school “gives them energy” and they would like to do it every day.
The event coincided with Week of Respect at the school. The week reminds students that school is a safe place and encourages them to “dare to be different.”
During the week, students and staff showed off their wackiest hairstyles. Kindergartner Ian Perez took the crazy hair day theme very seriously.
The Walk to School event was sponsored by Avenues in Motion, a nonprofit organization formerly known as TransOptions.
Its representatives, Jeremy Szeluga and Melissa McCutcheon, showed the students how to measure air quality, emphasizing one benefit of walking to school.
Students used a device that was linked to an app on her phone to measure particulates in the air. The air quality was in the green zone, indicating great air quality in Stanhope that day.
Szeluga and Odeem Rahin of Avenues in Motion spent the morning at the school, presenting programs called “Walk and Roll” to fourth-graders and “Safety Town” to first-graders.
Valley Road School has been participating in Walk to School Day since 2014. Walk & Roll to School Day is a national event held each Oct. 4 to encourage health, fitness and getting outside.
This year, more than 2,500 events were held in 46 states and Washington, D.C.