Students, teachers, families, friends and community leaders can participate. You can participate for the entire month, one week, or even one day! The City of Vernon will support your school with resources such as stickers, handouts, poster, and prizes, and help out with information and activity suggestions. Your event can be a big extravaganza, or it can be simple. Download our Educator's Guide for more information.
“On October 13th, Okanagan Landing Elementary, with support from the City of Vernon, held a celebration for students and families that walked or biked to school. Despite the wet weather, we had overwhelming participation, with over 70 students biking to school and about half of our total student population participating. We even had one student bike all the way from Coldstream to the Landing. As a result, we noticed much less traffic in our parking lot and students were more alert and ready to learn when school started. It was exciting to see so many parents joining in on the event and either biking or walking with their child to school. Thank you to the Angela and the City of Vernon for helping organize the celebration at our school." - Brian Smyth, Principal, Okanagan Landing Elementary
Why walk? Many parents and grandparents of today’s elementary school students will remember walking or biking to school as children. Today, more students are being driven to school, leading to decreased physical activity, increased traffic danger around schools, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. The 2018 ParticipACTION Report on Physical Activity for Children and Youth gave Canada a D- grade in active transportation with only 21% of Canadian children walking to school.
