Last November, at a Safe Routes newsletter meeting, staffer Taylor Sutton had a terrific idea. She thought why should boring adults be writing all the articles? We should have a student essay contest!

In our Winter issue, we asked for students to submit essays of 100 words or less describing why it is fun to walk or bike in the rain. We received many well-written essays from students all over Portland. Our panel of judges enjoyed reading all of the essays and struggled in selecting the top essay (which will be published in the Spring 2010 issue of our newsletter). We've decided to publish all our Honorable Mentions here on our blog so that everyone can enjoy them. We'll be posting one Honorable Mention a day up until our grand winner is announced.

Congratulations to all those who participated. We hope you'll agree that the future of walking and biking in Portland is bright!

Without further ado, Honorable Mention #1:

I always walk to school. Sometimes I bike but I always go by my grammas houses. We wave and say hi. Our Neighborhood is very quiet so it makes a great place to live.

The reason I walk and bike is I live very close, enough to walk and bike. The best part is I get to class early and extra work done. But the real reason it is so much fun.

Walking may seem boring to some people but I find it relaxing to talk and walk to school. After Joel [a Bicycle Transportation SR2S Ambassador] came into class for bike safety now riding my bike to places is super fun.

Sincerely,

Elyse Castles

P.S. Walking and Biking saves Gas.

Elyse Castles, 5^th grade, Rieke Elementary