A virtual journey transforms one school

By Ross Tierney

The initiative that started with developing creative ways to get kids away from the TV and outside playing has flourished into a full-fledged recreation and education program for the students and teachers at Apple River Middle School in Apple River, Ill.

All 102 Apple River students in fourth through sixth grade participate in the Walk Across Illinois program, which promotes physical activity by taking participants on a virtual, 167-mile walk from the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan in the course of a year. Each year, Apple River’s program continues to grow.

“We launched the first year [of the program], which consisted of mainly walking and tracking,” said Dee Dee Kalow, Apple River principal. “In our second year, we added the education piece. Next year, we’re going to have grade-specific curricula to make it interesting year after year.

To launch the program this year, the school organized a kick-off event for International Walk to School Day. Students and teachers gathered at the fire station a half-mile away and walked to school as a group, escorted by the town police officers and firefighters. When they arrived at school, cooks had prepared a nutritious meal.

The kick-off event is only the beginning. Walk Across Illinois has been integrated year-round into the physical education curriculum in the form of Walking Wednesdays, and students are also encouraged to track their activities away from school (a conversion chart equates various activities into the number of miles walked).

Teachers motivate students to meet weekly physical activity goals (15 miles or 300 minutes during the school week) through Walk Across Illinois’ unique, grade-specific virtual walks, which take students to new destinations across the state as they log their weekly miles.

“We have large Illinois maps to track their progress to see where they are in Illinois,” Kalow said. “Teachers also have students journal about their travels and what they found.”

Apple River teachers also lead by example. They log their own miles on the Walk Across Illinois website – so many miles that Apple River teachers won the Walk the Walk Challenge Trophy, presented by Active Transportation Alliance to the schoolteachers who log the most miles in a year.

Students, teachers and administrators at Apple River Middle School are living the Walk Across Illinois motto, to Get Active and Get Going. It shows in the students’ enthusiasm.

“I think it’s great because it challenges kids to get out, get going and be active,” Kalow said. “I have a fourth grader, and even he’ll say he has to go out and get his miles done – and he turns off the TV and goes.”

Ross Tierney is a ModeShift contributor.