WEST ORANGE, NJ — After a two-year postponement due to the pandemic, Kelly Elementary School students, parents and teachers again participated in National Walk to School Day on Oct. 13. This marks the seventh year that the school has promoted the event to encourage healthy exercise and bring attention to the need for safe streets.
Begun in 1997, National Walk to School Day is traditionally held the first Wednesday of October. The goal of the day is to raise awareness and support for the health, community and environmental benefits of regularly walking or biking to school.
Students walked from multiple neighborhood meeting points to school along with parents, teachers and staff. West Orange police officers were there to support the effort, and Kelly Principal David Marion, West Orange High School Principal Hayden Moore and Mayor Robert D. Parisi welcomed the walkers.
The event was organized by the Kelly PTA through the school’s Safe Routes to School Program and support from the West Orange Pedestrian Safety Advisory Board. Walk to School events raise awareness of the need to create safer routes for walking and bicycling, and emphasize the importance of issues such as increasing physical activity among children, pedestrian safety, traffic congestion and concern for the environment.
Photos Courtesy of WOSD
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