Photo Callout: Send Us Your Walk To School Day Pics For A Chance To Be Featured on Patch

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Wednesday is International Walk to School Day, and Montgomery County is encouraging its students to participate.

“Walking to school is a great way to build community, get exercise and lessen the environmental impact associated with driving,” said MCDOT Director Chris Conklin in a news release. “We are happy to support our students and hope to bring attention to pedestrian safety and walking for exercise.”

If you walk to school with your child, send pictures of the walk to Patch for a chance to be featured. Be sure to include your name, your child's name and grade, and the school you're walking to.

Walk To School Day typically has 40 participating countries and all of the states in the U.S. It started in 1997 as a one-day event, and took off from there.

“Montgomery County is committed to ensuring that walking and biking to school is a safe option for as many students as possible,” said County Executive Marc Elrich in a news release. “Walking or biking to school is good for a student’s health and well-being, as well as helpful to our efforts to reducing carbon emissions from vehicles. As part of our Vision Zero efforts, we will continue to invest in sidewalks, bicycle paths and public safety staffing, such as crossing guards, around every school building in order to make walking or biking to school an option for more students.”