On Wednesday, October 2, Kate Furbish Elementary School in Brunswick held its first Bike/Walk to School Day of the 2024-2025 school year. This is the second year that Kate Furbish has participated in this program, which is a multifaceted collaboration with Safe Routes to School, a national initiative that connects towns and neighborhoods to safe access points for biking and walking to school.
Brunswick’s Safe Routes to School Committee is a subcommittee of Brunswick’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. This committee works with Kate Furbish to help the school engage in this community activity, which recognizes the importance and joy of safe biking and walking to school.
“We love this for many reasons,” Annie Young, Principal of Kate Furbish Elementary School, said. “One of them is the collaboration that we have with many different groups to make this possible. Our parent group helps us out. We have community members help us out, and the Brunswick Police Department helps us out. We are especially grateful for our transportation [team] because they make sure that all students are able to participate.”
As part of Bike/Walk to School Day, Kate Furbish families have the option to ride or walk to school with their children. Some will gather at a nearby spot and head into school together. For students who cannot ride or walk to school with their families, Kate Furbish arranges to have all 19 of its buses stop at a nearby intersection to let students off slightly before arriving at school.
“We have staff and families along the route to school cheering students, as they walk their way onto our school campus,” Young said. “It is a fully-inclusive event for all 600-plus of our kids!”
Kate Furbish started this initiative to build strong traditions at the school and grow community and family involvement through a simple activity available to everyone.
“The Safe Routes to School movement is a national [movement], so we thought, ‘Let’s hop onto that and see if we can motivate from there,’” Caite McNeil, a Brunswick Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee member, said. “I think this is just the beginning of lots more organized efforts.”
Kate Furbish has added more Bike/Walk to School Day dates this year and hopes to continue this tradition for years to come. To further support the healthy lifestyles of its school community members, Kate Furbish also participates in MaineHealth’s 5-2-1-0 Let’s Go! Initiative.
Learn more about Bike/Walk to School Day by watching this Brunswick TV3 video.
Information for this story was provided by Kate Furbish Elementary School. To share good news from your school, please fill out the Maine DOE good news submission form.
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