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Over 140 students from Tommie Barfield Elementary School braved the early morning rain on Wednesday to take part in Collier County’s official kickoff for International Walk to School month.

Participants included kids of all ages — some who typically walk to school, bikeriders, skateboarders, and many newbies who normally would make the trip by car with parents. Stormy weather receded around 7:30, just in time to make the early morning hike that much easier along Kirkwood, Bermuda and other streets leading to the school. According to Jennifer Lofy of the Marco Island Police Department, youngsters prepared all week, learning valuable lessons on how to make the trip safely.

“I’ve been visiting their P.E. classes and before they start, we would go through the basics of ‘looking left, looking right and looking left again.’ I’ve been asking them various questions regarding parking lots, crossing the streets, crossing in between cars, obeying do not walk signs and walk signs. All different types of questions. And I actually had them go through a full activity where they had to show me that they could actually demonstrate it,” Lofy explains.

Seven schools in Collier County took place in Wednesday’s event, including Avalon, Lake Trafford, Parkside, Shadowlawn, Village Oaks and of course, Marco Island’s very own TBE. Although some students do not walk to school, everyone went through the safety program with the Marco Island Police Department and received a certificate from their teacher.

“It’s important because being on a small island, a lot of kids don’t understand the concept of being on a corner. And some homes in some areas don’t have sidewalks, so now they know that they still have to stop at the edge of the grass before they cross the street,” Lofy says. “We have been very fortunate that we have not had any severe accidents but we do get a few calls where kids are running out in the middle of the street playing or trying to cross.”

The purpose of international walk to school events is to promote physical activity, pedestrian safety, reduction of traffic congestion, concern for the environment and building connections between families, schools and the community as a whole.

“That we can back it up in the schools is good. Especially since the majority of the walking around the island is kids going to school. So it’s got to be a joint effort between school, law enforcement and most of the parents are drivers, so the word gets around to drivers too,” Lofy confirms. “The kids had a blast with this! You can pretty much ask any of the kids ‘which way do you look first?’ and they’ll say ‘look left, look right, look left again.’ It’s a catchy little saying so they all caught on.”

For more information regarding October’s International Walk to School month, visit www.walktoschool.org.