RGS student and advisor receive statewide safety patrol recognition

Ritzville Grade School safety patrol advisor Lynn Greenwalt and fifth grade student Zoe Galbreath were recently given statewide recognition for their dedication to safety, community stewardship and leadership by AAA Washington.

Zoe was selected as one of just 10 students from across the state to be inducted into the 2019 AAA School Safety Patrol Hall of Fame, while Greenwalt was selected as the eighth annual AAA School Safety Patrol Advisor of the Year. Greenwalt was nominated locally by RGS secretary Jamie Nichols. The pair will be honored during a special awards ceremony at T-Mobile Park before a Seattle Mariners game on April 26.

AAA Washington and a panel of judges from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Washington Traffic Safety Commission select the top 10 patrollers from schools across Washington each year. Patrollers are evaluated and judged on their commitment to traffic safety, citizenship, leadership skills, and contributions to school safety patrol programs. Nominations require input from both the patroller and their advisor, including responses to a series of essay questions.

Before that, safety patrol students at RGS-who are required to be fifth graders to participate-submit their nomination to Greenwalt, who then chooses one student's nomination to be considered at the statewide level. For her, Zoe was an obvious selection due to her dedication to safety patrol.

"We sign up for shifts and ask [the students] if they want to work morning or afternoon," explains Greenwalt. "And Zoe's so flexible, she's like the Ms. Sub of the world. Like if somebody's sick, 'I'll do it, I'll do it, Mrs. Greenwalt! I'll be there!' That's Zoe."

Greenwalt has been doing safety patrol at the school for about 12 years, and has worked at RGS since 2002 in her role as a paraeducator. Greenwalt was one of two school employees who was interested the position when it became available, and was set on participating in these types of statewide events. And thanks to her experience, she knows by now what will impress the statewide panel of judges.

"I kept telling the kids, if you don't fill up the spaces they're not going to consider you," said Greenwalt. "So my emphasis was to fill up all of the spaces. I've done this long enough [to know] that they needed to fill it up, plus some. And Zoe did plus some."

Over 20 fifth graders are currently taking part in safety patrol. But at the beginning of Greenwalt's tenure as safety patrol advisor, safety patrol wasn't the raucus hit for fifth graders that it is now.

"The first year I started doing safety patrol, it was kind of funny because everyone wanted to be in it," said Greenwalt. "But after two weeks they thought 'well, this isn't that much fun, what do we get?'"

There was a mass exodus from safety patrol that first month in Greenwalt's first year. So Deborah O'Brien, the principal at RGS at the time, concluded that they needed to throw a party to entice the students to stick with safety patrol.

That party tradition continues today, with certain requirements that the students have to meet to be eligible for the four quarterly parties throughout the year. Students must work a full two-week shift in order to be eligible. Crosswalk shifts occur before school from 8-8:25 a.m., and directly after school. Students are also tasked with finding their own substitutes when they can't make their scheduled shifts for whatever reason.

The third party of the year is taking place today. The first party of the year was a Halloween-themed party with popcorn balls and a Christmas party with root beer floats. The students vote on what kind of treats get served at the parties, which are held during the last period of the school day. Today's party is donut-themed, despite Zoe's lobbying for a pizza party. The students will also play games at the parties, and at Christmas the students even had a gift exchange.

For Zoe, excellence in safety patrol runs in the family. Her older sister, LRMS eighth grader Taylor, also received statewide recognition three years earlier. Zoe usually works morning shifts, but will also sub a lot at the end of the day when called upon.

One of the best parts of the job for Zoe is being thanked by the people she's tasked with helping cross the street safely. She also likes meeting and getting to know students she may not know all that well.

"It's just great being out there and I have a lot of fun. You seem some people you know, or sometimes you see people you don't even know and you get to know them," Zoe said. On the other hand, one of the hardest parts of the job for Zoe is in dealing with adults and making sure they follow the protocol just like the students do.

In the nomination package sent to the judges, Greenwalt calls Zoe a role model and leader in both the classroom and on patrol duty. She explains a situation earlier in the year when she asked Zoe to train a new student who had come into the school late in the fall after Sergeant Mike Cameron from the Ritzville Police Department had already trained the class earlier in the fall. Zoe offered to work an extra shift to that she could make sure the new student understood the rules and would take the job seriously.

"Zoe is the first one to always step up to the plate when someone is absent, and is always volunteering to substitute for them in patrol," said Greenwalt in her form nominating Zoe. "She is consistently coming early to work for her morning shift to help make cocoa for the students on cold mornings."

Zoe also gave a Powerpoint presentation earlier in the year to the 4th grade class, who will work safety patrol next year. She collected information from the AAA website and used what she's learned first-hand about safety patrol to design the Powerpoint. Zoe did such a good job with the Powerpoint that the fourth grade teacher told her that she should consider teaching as a career.