KAPA‘A — Kapa‘a Elementary School will join hundreds of children today as they participate in Walk to School Day. Walk to School day is an event designed to address the issues of physical activity, safer communities, and environmental health, a
KAPA‘A — Kapa‘a Elementary School will join hundreds of children today as they participate in Walk to School Day.
Walk to School day is an event designed to address the issues of physical activity, safer communities, and environmental health, a news release states.
“Aside from reduced CO2, less traffic time and teaching children self-reliance the most important benefit of walk to school programs are the health benefits. It has been proven over and over again that children who engage in regular physical activity perform better academically,” said Bev Brody, the Nutrition and Physical Activity Coalition’s Get Fit Kaua‘i Island coordinator.
Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. will be on hand to help lead the walking school bus from the New Cannery on the corner of Kawaihau and Kuahale Road to Kapa‘a Elementary School, the release states. Kaua‘i Police Department officers, Get Fit Kaua‘i School Task Force members, parents, teachers and other community leaders will also be there and invite you to get out your walking shoes and join the celebration.
The Walk to School event begins at 7 a.m. at the New Cannery. Parents that usually drive their children to school may drop children at the New Cannery if they would like their children to participate in the program. The Walking School Bus will make its way down Kawaihau Road picking up more students that live along the way with an expected 7:35 a.m. arrival at Kapa‘a Elementary. Healthy refreshments provided by the New Cannery will be served to walkers upon arrival on the school grounds.
Kapa‘a Elementary students who either walk or bike to or at school on May 18 will have a chance to win a bike from Kaua‘i Cycle and Tours. For those who can not walk or bike to school they can enter the contest by arriving at school early and walking on the school grounds prior to the start of classes.
The event is being organized by Get Fit Kaua‘i; the Nutrition and Physical Activity Coalition of Kaua‘i County’s School Task Force. Funded by the Department of Health’s Healthy Hawai‘i Initiative through a contract with the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa’s Office of Public Health Studies, John A. Burns School of Medicine, Get Fit Kaua‘i, Kaua‘i County Nutrition & Physical Activity Coalition first convened in March 2009.
The NPACs throughout the state (coalitions are in place in every county) are charged with improving health in the areas of physical activity and nutrition through systems and environmental changes, based on the social-ecological model. Research has shown that it is through these types of changes that long-lasting health benefits are gained.
Get Fit Kaua‘i’s School Task Force’s goal is to increase the percentage of youth (k-8) that meet the recommendation for physical activity through increase opportunities for safe biking and walking to school.
Get Fit Kaua‘i believes that the Walking School Bus on Walk to School Day address state-wide concerns about the health of our children and climate change issues, including:
— Obesity and inactivity, particularly among children, has been identified as one of the nation’s major public health challenges and one of the principal drivers of health-care spending.
— Physical activity improves self-esteem, enhances psychological well-being and academic performance, overcomes boredom, and provides positive leisure pursuits; yet two-thirds of American children don’t get the 30-60 minutes of daily physical activity required for healthy development, and fewer than 20 percent of Kaua‘i children walk to school.
— Passenger transportation accounts for 45 percent of greenhouse gas emissions produced by the average American family. By reducing the number of short car trips (i.e. the ride to school), families can take personal action to slow climate change (www.climatechangesolutions.com).
Walk to School Day provides families and communities with the chance to discover the simple joy of walking to school together, the release says.
