King George School was granted $1000 from ActivateYYC to create some active routes that are marked to encourage walking and biking in the neighborhood. The project evolved into an artist in residence project for the grade 4’s, who learned about public art and wayfinding from a parent volunteer and then teamed up with Nicole Wolf, a local Calgary artist, who taught the grade 4’s how to make stencils and then came back to do a Paint the Pavement project on 9 Street and 21 Avenue NW (a busy intersection for everyone coming and going from school), with the goal of bringing awareness for pedestrians, bikers and drivers to share the space.

In the fall, the same group of students (now in grade 5), asked the school community to place a sticker on a map where they live in the walk zone or neighboring communities that are bikeable. The teachers used this information to work with the students to find patterns, considering lit crosswalks, sidewalks and meetup places where families who drive could meetup with others to walk a few blocks to school. They discussed the benefits of walking, biking, scooting or skating for physical and mental health, the benefits socially, and also how these actions would change the physical space around school. After coming up with the routes, testing them and making adjustments a group of parents marked the routes with duct tape and stencils designed on the themes that were popular during the stencil project with Nicole.

The school promoted these routes to the community and encouraged everyone to walk on International Walk to School Day October 4!