he children of the school were diligent. They walked to school, wearing bright warning vests. And they got stamps, very, very many stamps.
The boys and girls of the Mariel participated with great enthusiasm in the German-wide campaign “Walking to School”, initiated by the Deutschland and the German Children’s Aids Association. For two weeks the children collected many, many stamps. On the one hand, it was used for the daily wearing of the neon yellow reflective vests, and on the other hand as a reward for actively walking back to school.
At the end of the campaign exceeded all expectations, reports the Mariel: It was exactly 2397 stamps for the entire school. That was 395 stamps more than last year. And there was still an increase: even 78 children had their stamp cards filled with 20 stamps this time. As a reward and reminder, the class spokesmen were allowed to receive the documents for their classroom. The total number of all stamps was recorded on the school certificate in the entrance area.
Many children told me that the common school walk was simply nicer and even found the “queuing” when stamping great. Headmistress Angelika asked: “I hope that after this positive community experience wearing the safety vest has become a matter of course and we will continue to see many bright children in the dark season.”