In an effort to reduce the number of single-passenger vehicles in school parking lots and raise awareness of clean commute options among students,
CATA launched the 2010 High School Clean Commute Challenge.
Lansing’s three high schools —
Everett,
Eastern and
Sexton — competed for prizes, including a six-foot-tall, four-foot-wide trophy made of recyclable material to display in the winning school’s lobby entrance.
Students, faculty and staff at Everett High School combined to reduce single-passenger
automobile traffic in the school’s parking by 39 percent, winning the first CATA Clean Commute High School Challenge and the unofficial title as the city’s “greenest” high school travelers.
“It’s important to get our youth involved, and I apologize for the cliché, but they are our future,” says Cathleen Edgerly, clean commute options coordinator at CATA. “The habits they can begin now in terms of choosing cleaner transportation options, can carry over into their adult professional lives. Plus, they can tell their parents, teachers, friends and siblings, and influence current and future trends.”
Source: Cathleen Edgerly, CATA
Writer: Suban Nur Cooley
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