AMA School Safety Patroller Day held at GPRC

Jun 2, 2018 | 6:00 AM

AMA held its School Safety Patrol Appreciation event at the Grande Prairie Regional College on Wednesday (May 30).

Coordinator for the AMA School Safety Patrol Program Shelley Biendarra says AMA is giving thanks to the hard work and dedication shown by students, faculty and schools in the area.

“We are giving thanks to the patrollers. They are on the crosswalks every day, volunteering their time and keeping young kids safe. This is AMA’s way of saying thank you.”

Roughly 300 elementary students from Grande Prairie and Beaverlodge participated in the event and were treated to a plethora of fitness games.

“Today they are doing [a wide variety of activities including] parkour, belly-fit, dance fitness, climbing wall, lucky-seven and gym games,” added Biendarra.

Biendarra says the AMA Safety Patrol in Alberta, which has been around for 80 years, can have a big influence on a crosswalk patroller.

“I always like saying that the Mayor was a patroller, I was a patroller. So, the impact is that they are keeping younger keeps safe. The impact for themselves is, today they are patrollers, tomorrow they are leaders.”

Currently, there are approximately 350 student patrollers in Grande Prairie.

by Brady Ratzlaff