Annual Walk to School Day coming up next week

As a way to get students and families walking, Alma Schrader Elementary School students, teachers, parents and grandparents will take part in Walk to School Day on Oct. 9.

The Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation at Southeast Missouri State University, in cooperation with the Alma Schrader Elementary School PTA, is sponsoring the event. Mark Langenfeld, professor of health, human performance and recreation and biology, said 80 to 100 people are expected to participate.

Walkers will start gathering at 7:30 a.m. at the Dennis Scivally Park shelter house. School staff, PTA members and others will be present as people arrive and gather. A police officer also will be present and will assist in traffic control as children are dropped off at the park. All assembled walkers will leave the park at 7:45 a.m. and walk to Alma Schrader on the sidewalks along Masters Drive and Randol Avenue. The group will arrive at the school shortly before 8 a.m.

Walk to School Day ties in with International Walk to School Day. The inaugural event in 2005 brought attention to the lack of sidewalks near the school. Now participants celebrate neighborhood sidewalks along the school's property and primary approach streets, according to a news release from Southeast. The city's response in building sidewalks is part of a larger goal of fostering Safe Routes to School, as well as enhancing the walkability of the entire neighborhood, the release said.

Attendance is typically good for the walks.

"We've had well over 100 in some of these past years. Obviously, it's somewhat weather dependent," Langenfeld said. Anyone from the community can join, and a couple of his colleagues also usually make the 0.7-mile trek.

"The highlight is … the elementary children," Langenfeld said. "It feels festive. We all meet at the park and walk to school together."

"It's real interesting how it goes from zero people to the big crowd in such a short period of time," he added.

Langenfeld, who lives near Alma Schrader Elementary School, got the idea to try Walk to School Day here after reading about the international day.

"I thought it was something we could do in Cape Girardeau," he said, so he contacted Alma Schrader principal Ruth Ann Orr.

"It's fascinating and the children love it. It's really been satisfying. … It was a big prompt to get additional sidewalks in that area," Langenfeld said.

Those interested in continuing the activity may also take part in the Walking School Bus program, in which adults will walk school bus routes to Alma Schrader and children can come along. Langenfeld said the adults will be wearing yellow T-shirts that say "Walking School Bus." The Walking School Bus program will begin Oct. 16 and run every Wednesday for seven weeks.

Langenfeld made a presentation in July 2010 at the International Congress on Obesity in Stockholm, Sweden, about the successes of the local event and the Walking School Bus program.

"It was wonderful to be able to highlight our Cape schools and Cape Girardeau at an international forum," he said. "Promoting walking to school is one worthy strategy to help increase the levels of physical activity among our children. And they love walking. It is loads of fun."

More than 4,200 schools in the United States participated in the walk in 2012.

For more information, contact Langenfeld at 651-2461 or Orr at 335-5310.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

1360 Randol Ave., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

2428 West Cape Rock Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.