MARQUETTE -- Wednesday morning, students at Bothwell Middle School in Marquette were encouraged to ditch the yellow bus and ride their bikes to school. It was the school's first Bike to School Day, but they've already had similar events aimed at getting kids more active. Last week, 86 students participated in Walk to School Day.
The events were made possible through a safe routes to school grant provided by the Michigan Department of Transportation. A school official says the benefits are twofold. It gets kids more active and reduces traffic.
"We have so much traffic here with the drop-offs and so many kids don't walk or bike to school any longer. A lot of research says that the more active, kids do better at school, so we're trying to encourage the kids for a more active lifestyle, including the walking and biking to school," said Bothwell Assistant Principal, Dan Gannon.
Bothwell is also looking to use some of the grant money to fund the construction of sidewalks along the perimeter of the school's property.
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