Walk To School Day 2016: Three Cumming Schools Participating

CUMMING, GA — Students and parents at schools in Cumming will join others at more than 4,000 schools around the world Wednesday for International Walk To School Day.

Students at Brookwood Elementary, Haw Creek Elementary and Lakeside Middle School will make a point of walking or riding their bikes, as parents and teachers urge them on.

Walk to School Day events are designed to 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.

Walk to School Day was established in the United States in 1997 by the Partnership for a Walkable America. Canada and Great Britain already had walk to school programs in place. In 2000, these three countries joined together to create International Walk to School Day.

The idea for Walk to School Day is simple: children and parents, school and local officials walking to school together on a designated day.

In May 2006, the National Center for Safe Routes to School was established to assist communities in enabling and encouraging children to safely walk and bike to school.

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