By foot, by scooter, by bike they came, in the cool of the morning, as the sun was still low in the sky and day felt new.
Block by block, their numbers grew, many with balloons in hand.
Doing their part, school kids from Los Altos and Los Altos Hills used foot power on International Walk to School Day. What was once a fairly common sight across America has become a much rarer thing. But for one day, it was worth celebrating.
At Loyola School volunteer mom Maureen Adams had mini-muffins and juice waiting, with coffee for parents who need their morning fix. The Pinewood Middle Campus Student Council set up a cereal breakfast bar as a fundraiser, for those who got there with time to spare.
"Up and down Fremont Avenue you could see a line of people coming to school," said Pinewood School Headmaster Scott Riches, who said about 65 percent of the school came out. "It's a fun day for the entire Pinewood community."
Adams said the participation at Loyola was good, even if the sixth graders were away at Walden West. Besides the refresments, the school had an assembly to reinforce how walking or riding bikes was the healthy thing to do.
Gardner Bullis School had three "walking bus" routes coming from Los Altos and from Los Altos Hills to schoo, said parent Heather Rose. All students walking, biking or green-pooling to school received slap bracelets that earn them a "free lap" for the school's walkathon fund-raiser coming up on Oct 13. Many students considered it a bit like "extra recess" time that walking with their friends afforded, Rose said.
Los Altos Patch participated in Walk to School Day at Montclaire School, and solicited pictures from other schools. For the students who lived too far to walk, Montclaire arranged for parents to park at Lucky's on Grant Road and students walked the rest of the way—with a motorcycle police escort, to boot.
They found councilmember Megan Satterlee doing crosswalk duty at St. Joseph Avenue.
She warned this Patch editor from stepping off the curb just to get a picture, because it wasn't safe. And, no, even with the big crowds, and her running from re-election, "I'm not handing out campaign literature," Satterlee said.
"It's my favorite thing to do," said and Los Altos Police Officer Rich Swanson, who was handing out police badge stickers after escorting the Lucky's group to school. He started with a huge stack and was down to just a few by 830 a.m.
"It's good to see all the kids wearing their safety helmets," he said.
PTA/PTO parents: If you have photos from your school's event, upload them here!
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