When I was an elementary student, I walked more than five miles, up a steep incline, through brush and rugged terrain, in the snow and sleet to get to my school. OK, I’m exaggerating a little bit. But as a grade-schooler, I did hoof it to school, tracing nearly a mile-long path from my home to the school’s campus … and I wasn’t the only one.

Pretty much, everyone in my neighborhood walked to school--- even the cootie boys. That stopped, though, once I went on to junior high, which was a significant distance from my home, requiring me to take the bus. Luckily, it was around this time that I got involved in sports.

Or maybe it wasn’t luck. Officials of the federally funded Safe Routes to School program believe that offering kids the opportunity to walk or bike to school can be the catalyst to students incorporating physical activity into their life over the long haul.

According to the program, about half of all students walked or biked to school in 1969, but today more than half of students are brought to school in private cars. This shift has not only increased traffic congestion and lowered air quality around schools, it also has made kids lazy and contributed to the high rates of childhood obesity.

To combat these negative side effects, the federal government has allocated $612 million through the Safe Routes to School program, which works with states to take away some of the obstacles hindering walking or biking to school, whether it means building sidewalks or creating incentives for kids and families. Check out the details on their homepage here: http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/index.htm. to see what your state and community is doing.

Today, my commute to work is way too long for me to do anything truly ambitious, but when all is said is done, I do end up walking nearly a mile each way to get to my office. I guess some things never really change.

Naomi Dillon, Senior Editor