Oakwood Elementary is a small school community, part of the Oshkosh School District in the Town of Algoma.
The school is on the corner of North Oakwood and Omro Road where it is single-way traffic both ways without a sidewalk or bike lane on either side.
"Oakwood is not really a bike or walk to school school. We don't have bike lanes, we don't have sidewalks in the Town of Algoma so it's not very safe so this was something that our kids at Oakwood don't really have an opportunity to do very often. So the girls thought that with spring and summer coming that this would be a timely way to address bicycle safety and to allow kids at Oakwood the chance to bike to school safely." said Stacy Potter.
The Oshkosh Service Area Oakwood 5th grade Girl Scout Troop 2115 noticed this and wanted to make it a focus point for earning their bronze award which has to be a community-based project.
"We have a lot of issues with Oakwood drop-off and traffic congestion on old Omro road so that's another thing to consider that if more kids were able to bike and walk to school safely i think that the traffic would help lessen as well, which would be a plus for everybody, whether you have kids at Oakwood or not." said Potter
Girl Scout members Keagan Potter, Jenna Freiberg, Chloe Tritt, Josee Berg, Laina Hammen and Josie Weber partnered with the Safe Routes to School program to host Oakwood's first 'Walk & Roll' to School Day.
Students, parents, some Town of Algoma board members and the community were invited to join in on the fun and bike or walk to school on May 19th, 2017.
The school came out in full force with more than 70 kids biking to school and more than 200 kids taking part in the event. Once the kids arrived at the school they were treated to water and snacks along with some small gifts for participating which were provided by the Girl Scouts and the Safe Routes to School.
Organizers tell NBC26 they received great feedback from participating parents and hope to make it an annual event.
