SPARKS – Ashley Gomez, a third grade student who attends Robert Mitchell Elementary School, is already in the habit of walking to school every day and observes the rules of the road.

“My parents just tell me to be safe and look both ways,” she said Friday.

About 100 Sparks elementary school children from Mitchell, including Gomez, donned not just their walking shoes Friday, but also tags and neon bracelets that proclaimed they traveled to school with “human power.”

Last week, six Washoe County schools participated in the first annual “Nevada Moves” event intended to promote fun and safe physical activity for students and to encourage them to walk to school, teach them how to be safe while walking and show parents and other officials where improvements can be made. The effort was part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign.

“Nevada Moves” also is part of a year-long initiative called Safe Routes to School that has held special days for students to learn about pedestrian and sidewalk safety.

Besides Mitchell, the other schools slated to be involved with the campaign from Reno and Sparks included Caughlin Ranch Lenz, Bennett, Gomm and Palmer. However, Lenz, Bennett and Gomm had to cancel or change their activities because of the inclement weather.

Washoe County School District Safe Routes to School coordinator Janet Carthen said the activities give students confidence and knowledge for various safety situations.

“They know that it’s safe because there’s adult supervision out there,” she said. “We’re forming walking school buses and we’re trying to promote it with the parents, but we want adult supervision. It helps eliminate bullying, the stranger danger and we don’t want kids walking to be afraid of being abducted.”

Kids were offered prizes for their participation, which also included riding bikes to school. Carthen said one student from Mitchell will receive a new bike helmet because he did not have one.

Sparks Councilwoman Julia Ratti showed her support of the event and stressed that keeping children safe is a priority.

“It is so important that we do more walking, biking and get out of the cars,” Ratti said as she walked to school with Mitchell students Friday.

Ratti attended Mitchell in her grade school days and said she often walked.

“It is important for kids to stay healthy and do it in a safe way,” she said.

Washoe County was one of seven districts with 32 schools in the state to be part of Nevada Moves.

Rebecca Kapuler, the Nevada Department of Transportation Safe Routes to School coordinator for the Silver State, said last week was the first statewide effort to encourage kids to walk to school and teach them safe habits.

Parents, however, also have a chance to follow their kids and see where the physical dangers are for their students.

“Healthy kids get to school ready to learn,” Kapuler said. “An event like this helps parents physically see what their kids have to deal with when walking to school.”

Children and school personnel encountered challenges including sidewalks, places where sidewalks didn’t exist at all, children walking into a busy street and dogs running around that may – or may not – be friendly.

“This is a problem we have in the older neighborhoods,” Ratti said, pointing to a place where children were forced to walk in the street as they started walking from 12th Street on the east side of Sparks High School’s baseball field and traveled around the neighborhood.

Ratti said through the assistance of community development block grants, the city is hoping to improve sidewalk space to make walking to school safer for children, but the current budget is tight.

Still, Carthen said the week’s worth of activities did manage to drive a point home for students and parents.

“The whole idea is to get more kids more physically active,” she said. “While we’re working with them, we’re teaching safe bicycling to kids and raising awareness to parents on how walkable the community is.”