As of last week, elementary students at Congin School had walked the more than 628 miles it takes to get from Westbrook to Harrisburg, Penn., the hometown of one of their teachers.
Since students at Congin and Canal schools returned from winter break, school guidance counselor Joe Driscoll has been leading them around a quarter-mile track during recess and marking every step along the way.
As students make their way around a walking loop outside their schools, Driscoll punches a card for every quarter-mile they complete. After walking a total of five miles, they hand in the card and get a small plastic foot as a souvenir. After 10 miles, they get a wrist band.
Blake Fillmore, 11, has already passed the 10-mile mark. “It’s pretty cool. You get good exercise,” he said.
Maps hanging in the schools mark the hometowns of faculty members. The goal is for the students to cumulatively walk the same distance it would take to travel to those cities.
Their next destination is Richmond, Va. Anahuac, Texas, a teacher’s hometown, is the farthest destination on their map. At the Canal School, there’s a teacher from England.
Driscoll said 70 percent of students in Grades 3 through 5 are participating in the program.
“It’s every type of kid you can imagine – from the real athletic type to the couch potatoes,” he said.
Driscoll said the purpose of the program is more than just making the students more active. It also gets them to be involved with a school activity, makes them focus on a goal and helps them learn better when they return to school later in the day, having expended their excess energy.
“When they come in, they’ve got a little bit more focus,” said fifth-grade teacher Gloria Noyes.
Driscoll said making goals, reaching destinations and having some friendly competition between classrooms has made the program a success.
“Even after the snow, you can still see the trail,” Driscoll said about the path the students have stomped out. “They seem to be having a good time with it.”
Rachael Dyer, 8, and Kelsey Cavanaugh, 9, lead a group of students walking around a quarter-mile loop at the Congin School during their recess. School counselor Joe Driscoll started the program after winter break.
Students going the distance for new walking program
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