A stroll before school

By Isabella Whitling | 9/22/23

Cranberry High School's “Walk to School Day,” an annual event hosted by the CRANA club to promote healthy habits, was in action on the beautiful morning of September 21, 2023.

Cranberry students were dropped off at the intersection of Big Egypt road and Education Drive by Cranberry’s buses to walk up the back drive to the main entrance of the high school. Drivers and staff who parked in the parking lot walked down the driveway and then back up to the school to participate in the event.

“I think it's a good way to wake kids up in the morning, just a good way to make kids exercise,” said Aurora Kush, 7th grader at Cranberry High School.

Members of the CRANA club (CRanberry Advocates for Nutrition and Activity) along with Melanie Oliver, a Cranberry staff member and advisor of the CRANA club, took backpacks off the buses so the students could have an enjoyable walk back to the main entrance of the high school.

While students waited to collect their backpacks, chalk was available for them to let their morning minds get creative. Some students participated in the chalk hopscotch that the CRANA members had drawn; others wrote quotes and mindful messages.

The Marching band also walked along the road and provided a wonderful morning tune.

The CRANA club, of which any student can become a member, promotes the health of CHS students through events such as Wellness Wednesdays, Walk to School Day, Apple Crunch Day, the YMCA Program, Move It Outside Day, and the Stall Notes.

The band marched to school playing as students walked (photography by Kai Pascorell)

CRANA members unloading bookbags from buses (photography by Rylee Coe)

Seth Deloe, a senior CRANA member, helps unload bookbags from buses (photography by Rylee Coe)

Students participating in “Walk to School Day” (photography by Maria Galletta)

Cranberry students having fun during “Walk to School Day” (photography by Kai Pascorell)

The band performs as they walk to school (photography by Rylee Coe)

Students being led by the band at Cranberry High School during “Walk to School Day” (photography by Kai Pascorell)

Students playing hopscotch during Walk to School Day (photography by Henry Milford)

Students participate in “Walk to School Day” (photography by Rylee Coe)

Principal Richard Smith walks to school with students on the annual “Walk to School Day” event at Cranberry High School (photography by Kai Pascorell)

Backpacks were placed in circles so that students could pick them up when they were done walking to school (photography by Rylee Coe)

Cranberry staff members join in with “Walk to School Day” (photography by Maria Galletta)

Motivational sayings were written by CRANA members on the sidewalk to encourage students walking to school (photography by Rylee Coe)