On Wednesday, several Redmond schools participated in Walk to School Day.

Mayor John Marchione proclaimed the day to be Walk to School Day in Redmond and students, their families, teachers and the community joined schools from around the nation to celebrate walking to school.

The schools will promote walking to school through the Redmond SchoolPool Program throughout the month of October. The goal of the Redmond SchoolPool is to reduce traffic while giving students a healthy, fun and safe way to get to school. Families are matched with other students through an online system so they can travel together via “walking school buses,” or by forming multi-family carpools to earn rewards.

“Redmond families have options on how they can get to where they want to go, including the daily trip to school. Walking or biking to school are healthy alternatives that can be a life-long habit,” said Marchione, who participated at Norman Rockwell Elementary and Redmond Elementary’s Walk to School Day events.

In addition, Boom from the Seattle Seahawks participated in Walk to School Day events at Einstein and Horace Mann elementary schools.

Walk to School events work to create safer routes for walking and emphasize the importance of issues such as increasing physical activity among children, pedestrian safety, reducing traffic congestion and concern for the environment.

For information about the Redmond SchoolPool Program, contact Caroline Chapman at ckchapman@redmond.gov.