SOUTHAMPTON – Most of the Norris Elementary School student body, some 500+ strong, and their teachers made the one-mile walk from the town fire department on College Highway to the school on Pomeroy Meadow Road on Wednesday in celebration of National Walk to School Day. Principal Aliza Pluta exchanged high fives with the excited students as they departed the parking lot, by grade and class, with an escort from the town’s police and fire departments.
One boy dribbled a basketball the entire way. Third grader Jillian Allen, who said she’d sprained her ankle getting off a ride at the Big E, made it three quarters of the way on crutches – but then was relieved to trade them in for a ride in a stroller pushed by a schoolmate’s parent. Pluta, who has been at Norris School for six years, believes the annual event, which always falls on the first Wednesday of October, has been a tradition at the school for about 12 years.
Kevin Gutting can be reached at kgutting@gazettenet.com