AAA Washington visited Moran Prairie Elementary School yesterday to promote school traffic safety for both pedestrians and drivers during the school year.
During the demonstration with AAA Washington representatives Erin Rogers and Megan West, school principal Kate Hellenthal, and Moran Safety Patrol Advisor Debby Smith (2024 Advisor of the Year), a few Prairie Dog crossing guards shared what to do (and what NOT to do) when helping students, families and staff cross the street.
AAA Washington's School Safety Patrol Program has operated for more than 100 years since starting in Seattle in 1922. The program now partners with more than 700 schools statewide and trains 22,000 student patrollers in grades 4-8 to serve as crossing guards and assist with bus safety.
Moran Prairie has been particularly successful in the program, with seven patrollers inducted into the AAA Washington School Safety Patrol Hall of Fame over the past seven years. The school consistently recruits 60+ patrollers annually under advisor kindergarten teacher Debby Smith's leadership, emphasizing how the program teaches students responsibility, leadership skills, and community engagement while improving overall school safety.