West Elementary got its third golden shoe this week.
For the third consecutive year, the school received the Golden Shoe trophy from the Utah Department of Transportation.
The trophy was presented to West Elementary by UDOT officials in a school assembly Wednesday morning.
The golden shoe is awarded annually by UDOT’s Walk More in Four statewide competition. It comes with a $500 cash prize.
To earn the award, West Elementary students documented that more than 93 percent of the student body walked or biked regularly to school during September. That’s nearly three times above the national average and the highest percentage of walkers and bikers in Utah, according to Cherissa Olsen, UDOT school and pedestrian safety manager.
“UDOT commends West Elementary for helping to foster safe walking and biking efforts across Utah,” Olsen said. “Safe walking and biking efforts like these across the state contribute to safer and healthier schools and communities.”
Two students at West Elementary also won individual prizes for walking and biking to school during the competition. The students were drawn randomly from more than 4,500 participants across Utah. Each won a bike or scooter and helmets.
The Walk More in Four challenge is part of UDOT’s Student Neighborhood Access Program called SNAP, which is part of the Federal Highway Administration’s Safe Route to School Program.
The program is designed to reduce traffic congestion and increase air quality around schools and positively impact student health by reducing obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular health problems that have been linked to a sedentary lifestyle, according to the FHWA.
In 1969 about half of students walked or biked to school. By 2001 the number of walking or biking students dropped to 15 percent, claims the FHWA.
SNAP’s first priority is student safety, with the goal to help make roads around schools safer.
Utah law requires all elementary, middle and junior high schools to create and distribute a SNAP Plan, which shows the safest routes to school.
SNAP also provides resources for students, parents, principals and school crossing guards.
Riverside Elementary in Washington County claimed second place, with Minersville Elementary in Beaver County coming in third. Those schools will receive $250 and $100 respectively. Each school’s safety committees will use the cash prizes.