Redway Elementary students participated in Walk to School Day on October 7. This international event was founded in 1998 with just a few schools. Now, thousands of people in California - and millions world wide - walk to school each October. Because many students live miles from campus, staff and students walked around a designated track before school. Those students riding the bus were able to join once they got to school. A special thanks to local CHP officer Erik Van Emmerick, who handed out coloring books and stickers that provided bike safety information, and Lisa Henninger who served healthy food choices from Harvest of the Month. This event was also part of a larger event, the Governor’s Challenge, which encourages students and adults to be active. Redway Elementary is planning a Bike Rodeo on October 23. If anyone is interested in having a safety booth, helping kids with bike safety, or donating helmets or other equipment please call Julie Johansen, Principal at 923-2526.

Telephone Pioneers donate dictionaries

The Telephone Pioneers recently donated brand new dictionaries to all 4th grade students at Redway and Whitethorn Elementary Schools. Each student received their own dictionary, which included word definitions, presidential biographies, mathematical conversions, and maps. Joe Johansen and Sigrid Kenyoun handed them out individually to each student, encouraging them to use the dictionaries both in and outside of school. The students’ favorite part of the dictionary seemed to be the world’s longest word in the English language, which has over 1,900 letters.

The Telephone Pioneers began in 1911 with just 734 members, including Alexander Graham Bell. In the beginning, friendship and fellowship were what it was all about. Industry people recalling the facts, traditions, and memories of the early history of the telephone. But those who wrote the original Pioneers purpose were forward thinking in adding that it would also encourage “such other meritorious objects consistent with the foregoing as may be desirable.” That became what would make the Pioneers different from other industry groups. One of those “meritorious objects” translated into community service. Chapters, councils, and clubs began their own initiatives, mostly working with children’s groups. By 1958, community service was established as the Pioneers’ “New Tradition.” Today, the organization is the world’s largest group of industry-specific employees and retirees dedicated to community service. Mrs. Julie Johansen, principal at Redway and Whitethorn Elementary Schools, would like to personally thank the Pioneers for their contribution to our community.