400+ walked to school!

Huge THANK YOU to everyone who walked to school last Friday!!!! Around 440 people + at least 20 dogs!!! It was fun-fun-fun!

We managed to reduce the number of cars in the carline with 173 cars! Can you imagine how much less exhauste got into the air!

Did you see the walkers' happy, rosy faces? Perhaps it was party due to the morning chill, but surely mainly due to the healthy walk!

The first walkers brave the morning chill:


Rolling backpacks, carrying poster boards, leading dogs - nothing stops us from walking!


Arriving to school walkers are rewarded with sprout stamps


We get to school fresh and happy


See more pictures here!

WALK TO SCHOOL DAY - May 6th, 2011

Come and walk to school again! I'm sure you remember how much fun it was last fall! (Have you seen the pictures yet?) And I'm sure you also remember why it's sooooooooooo good for the environment if people choose to walk instead of to drive. (Need a reminder?)

This year, as in the past, police will help with crossing Berkeley Bridge (in the news, too!). Please tell your friends who drive across the bridge that morning to expect delays.

HAVE YOU HEARD? Soon we could have a safer way to walk to school (read this news article from Dec. 2010)! An alternative crossing path is in the works at our city council!!! Check out the handouts of the public information meeing here! (Feel free to download and print it from the SproutPrint website.) Please express your support and comments to:

See here a short outline of the proposed project:

EARTH DAY 2011 - Celebrate with Sprout!

This year Earth Day will take place during Spring Break. Celebrate with Sprout! You can choose from many activities you can do at home:

-- Check your ecological footprint here!

-- Write a list for yourself about what you can do at home to help the Earth!

-- Watch The Story of Stuff! Discuss it with friends and family!

-- Play our Green Clemson scavenger hunt! Sprout took some photos of green spots in Clemson. Find on the map where the photos were taken! You can see the map and photos here. You can also download and print the map from here.

--Visit the Earth Day Open House at the Geology Museum!

You can find all printable material from Sprout at the SproutPrint page!

Feel free to write me an e-mail about what you've learned! You can also fill out the sheet Sprout left in your Monday Folder. (Have you lost it? Download and print the Sprout Earth Day sheet from here!) If you return that sheet at the front office with your answers and name on it, Sprout will give you a green reward!

Walking to school - a step closer to safety (news article)

Clemson walkers a step closer to safety
Pedestrian bridge will ease concerns on Berkeley Drive

By John C. Stevenson • Pickens County News • Published: December 14. 2010 2:00AM

Plans for a pedestrian bridge over busy U.S. 123 at Berkeley Drive in Clemson is one step closer to fruition.

The City Council has decided to hire Florence & Hutcheson Consulting Engineers for about $69,000 to design a pedestrian bridge that would resolve a decades-old safety concern.

The narrow, two-lane Berkeley Drive overpass is a concern because Clemson Elementary School is on Berkeley Drive, and the road connects the school to local neighborhoods.

“If I was one of the parents, I would not let my children walk across it,” Clemson Elementary principal Ken Weichel said. “This will open up several neighborhoods, and be the safe way for kids to get to school.”

Clemson administrator Rick Cotton said safety has been an issue at the overpass since the elementary school opened 20 years ago. The city has considered various options, including tearing down the existing bridge and constructing a new one at a cost of about $2 million, and connecting sidewalk to the bridge, restriping the bridge and adding a fence to separate pedestrians from vehicles, at a cost of about $80,000.

Cotton said the existing Berkeley Drive bridge is in otherwise good condition, and does not need to be replaced, while the plan to restripe and add sidewalk and a fence “does not improve safety.”

“You've got a school there that's going to be there for another 40 or 50 years, let's build a 40- or 50-year solution,” Cotton said. “Council's decided we need to find a way to get this done.”

Florence & Hutcheson will be tasked not only with designing a pedestrian bridge, but also with “bidding and construction management” for the project, which Cotton said could cost as much as $700,000.

He said by May, the city “will have a project that's designed and built and ready to bid.”

At the same time, Cotton said, the city will work to find the money needed to build the pedestrian bridge. A Transportation Enhancement Program grant through the state Department of Transportation is a possible source, he said.

Eunice Lehmacher, a Clemson Elementary parent who has long lobbied for improvements to the overpass, said the pedestrian bridge will have benefits for the community in addition to pedestrian safety.

“My philosophy is walking is better than driving — for kids, for the environment, for all kinds of reasons,” she said. “I have friends who run across that bridge or walk across that bridge and cars don't slow down for them. They say it's kind of scary for them — for adults.”

Oct 1st, 2010 - Fall Walk to School Day

We had a very successful walk to school day on Friday! More than 585 of us walked! Hurray for all of us! Come, see more pictures on Flickr!

Anderson Independent even wrote an article about how our school and other schools walk for safe routes to school! Read more!

Why walk to school?

There are sooooo many reasons-

• Walking and biking to school provide opportunities for children and families to reduce their carbon usage and contribute to the health of the environment.
  
• If a family chooses to walk to school (rather than drive a personal vehicle)
  they can reduce their carbon use by .164 metric tons annually.
  
• If half of the students at an average size elementary school choose to walk to school their impact could be a savings of over 39 tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year. This is the equivalent of the carbon-removing abilities of 1,000 trees.
  
• Leaving the car at home just two days a week will reduce greenhouse gas
  emissions by an average of 1,600 pounds per year.
  
• Private vehicle emissions contribute to air pollution and global climate
  change, both of which threaten human and environmental health.
  
• Passenger cars, trucks, motorcycles, and SUVs together account for 62 percent of transportation related greenhouse gas emissions. The transportation sector is responsible for one-third of all carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. Air pollutants can be especially harmful to children because their respiratory systems are still developing.
  
• Air pollution has negative effects on lung development in children and can reduce lung function, increase respiratory infection, and aggravate asthma symptoms.
  
• Childhood asthma rates more than doubled from 1980 to the mid-1990s and they remain at historically high rates today. Presently, asthma is one of the most prevalent chronic childhood diseases and is a major cause of childhood disability. At least 14 million school days are missed annually due to asthma.
  
• Exposure to nature and time for free outdoor play can have multiple health benefits including stress reduction, relief ofADHD symptoms in children, and increased cognitive and motor functioning.
  

Berkeley Bridge on News Channel 4

WALK TO SCHOOL is making a difference!

Look at this news bit that aired yesterday on News Channel 4!http://www.wyff4.com/video/24946286/index.html

Plans are in the works to build a pedestrial bridge next to the existing bridge!!! Walking and biking is going to get much safer! I'm so excited!!!