Safe Way to School

There are some new yard signs about “Safe Way to School” in Plattsmouth thanks to Safe Kids Sarpy/Cass

For the second year, Safe Kids Sarpy Cass from the Sarpy/Cass Dept of Health and Wellness has coordinated International Walk to School Day in Plattsmouth. International Walk to School Day is celebrated internationally on this date and is sponsored by Safe Kids and FedEx. The goal is to teach children how to be safer pedestrians as they walk to and from school and raise awareness about the importance of physical activity.

This year the event included both elementary schools in our town, Plattsmouth Elementary School and St. John’s Catholic School. The event was a great success thanks to the added support of the Plattsmouth Community. The businesses and individuals in the community that contributed to this event include: Scoular Company, Pamida, Plattsmouth State Bank, Plattsmouth Elementary School PTO, Cass County 4-H Council, Joy Warden (St. John’s School Nurse), Higgins Hardware, Subway, Ruffner Pharmacy, Heritage Pharmacy, United Healthcare-Share Advantage, and Coventry Nebraska.
The celebration included a poster contest for grades K-4 in each school using the theme “Safe Way to School”.

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  Each winner at each school had their poster made into 10 yard signs that were placed in town by the Plattsmouth Police officers. Each winner also won a $100 gift certificate to Pamida in Plattsmouth.
  
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    Plattsmouth Community winner-Riley Sedlak
    
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    St. John’s Catholic winner- Sydney Hobscheidt
    
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  Second place posters in each school received a $30 gift card to Subway and a $5 gift card to Dairy Queen
  
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    Plattsmouth Community winner- Katie Rathman
    
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    St. John’s Catholic winner- Elissa Warden
    
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  Third place posters in each school received two Burger King Gift cards
  
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    Plattsmouth Community winner- Alexandria Frerichs
    
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    St. John’s Catholic winner- Katie Weaver
    

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  Kindergarteners were included in the general poster contest as well as a competition in their own class. Four places were available to each school. (Only three posters were submitted at St. John Catholic School). The winners in Kindergarten poster contest won a bag filled with a stuffed Sesame Street character and an activity book.
  
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    Plattsmouth Elementary Kindergarten –
    
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      1^st place – Marissa Faust
      
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      2^nd place – Anna Owen
      
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      3^rd place – Marshall Vaughn
      
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      4^th place – Joscelyn Tellinghuisen
      
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    St Johns Catholic Kindergarten
    
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      1^st place – Emily Zitek
      
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      2^nd place – Dominic Vercellino
      
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      3^rd place – Rachel Dills
      

International Walk to School Day is all about walking to school and the kids in Plattsmouth did indeed walk to school on October 5^th. Each child at each school received a reflective wrist slap band before the event. The kids met at either the ball field water tower or the carwash across form the Subway and everyone walked together to school. Over 67% of the kids from Plattsmouth Elementary School (405 kids) walked to school on that day. St John’s Catholic School had a great turn out also including 66% (55 kids) walking to school on International Walk to School Day on October 5^th, 2011. At each school, the classes were in competition to have the most kids walking at the event. The class that had the most kids walking was awarded a backpack for each student in the class. The winning classes were:

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  The Fourth grade class at St John’s Catholic School
  
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  The Third grade class at Plattsmouth Elementry School
  

In honor of this walking effort and to promote healthy physical activity, the kids that walked to school during this event were eligible to put their name into a drawing for a free bike and bike helmet. A boy’s bike and a girl’s bike were given away in each of the participating schools.

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  Plattsmouth Elementary winner of girl’s bike & helmet – Sarah Schriber
  
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  St John’s Catholic winner of girl’s bike & helmet – Abigail Burns
  
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  Plattsmouth Elementary winner of boy’s bike & helmet – Ben Wright
  
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  St John’s Catholic winner of boy’s bike & helmet – Caleb Laney
  

International Walk to School day stresses safety and FedEx had their FedEx truck there to demonstrate pedestrian safety to the children of both schools. Part of the demonstration allowed the kids to sit in the truck and talk about the blind spots around a vehicle that can make it hard for drivers to see pedestrians.

Safe Kids Sarpy/Cass is part of the Sarpy Cass Department of Health and Wellness and their mission is “Preventing unintentional injury and death in children age 14 and under”. If you would like to be a part of this great cause, we invite you to attend our monthly meetings in Plattsmouth. Safe Kids Sarpy/Cass holds meetings at the Plattsmouth Community School Admin building on the third Thursday of each month. (There will not be a meeting during the month of October.) For more information, visit www.sarpycasshealthdepartment.org/safe_kids.html or contact Jane Husz, Safe Kids Coordinator, [e-mail] [phone] ext. 210.