​AAA’s School Safety Patrol Celebrates 100th Anniversary

AAA’s School Safety Patrol Celebrates 100th Anniversary

AAA Mid-Atlantic Honors Outstanding School Safety Patrol Student
5th grader from Nanticoke, PA honored

WILKES-BARRE, PA (June 9, 2020) – AAA’s School Safety Program is celebrating its 100th year as the largest school-based safety program in the world. AAA Mid-Atlantic is honoring students as Outstanding AAA School Safety Patrol Members for the 2019-2020 school year. Among this special group of students is Kiele Maday, a 5th grader from Greater Nanticoke Elementary Center in Nanticoke.

As a member of the Greater Nanticoke Area Elementary School Safety Patrol, Maday is described as determined with a great work ethic. She always exceeds expectations with each task that is asked of her and consistently places the needs of her peers and teachers in front of her own to truly embody the meaning of an outstanding safety patrol. Maday is a member of the morning helper crew and assists the Kindergarten classrooms with morning routines. She rides the bus in the morning where she assumes patroller responsibilities and is a car rider in the afternoon. This year, Maday realized the need for her presence on the bus in the afternoon due to the limited number of patrollers available and volunteered to ride the bus home even though her ride is the longest in the district.

As an Outstanding School Safety Patrol award recipient, Maday received a plaque in recognition of her accomplishments and a Visa Gift Card during a Zoom call with representatives from AAA Mid-Atlantic, her school’s principal as well as her Safety Patrol Advisor and other teachers.

More than 1,400 patrollers currently participate in the AAA School Safety Patrol program in nearly 70 Wilkes-Barre area elementary schools. It is the largest school-based safety program in the world with more than 679,000 Patrollers in 35,000 schools across North America and 30 countries, providing a safer environment for child pedestrians and offering a spectrum of educational opportunities for schoolchildren.

For 100 years, AAA Mid-Atlantic has sponsored and provided major support for the AAA School Safety Patrol by supplying training materials, recognition programs for service, and patrol equipment, including the familiar badge and belt.

AAA School Safety Patrols direct children, not traffic. As school-age leaders in traffic safety, patrol members teach other students about traffic safety on a peer-to-peer basis. They also serve as role models for younger children. Patrols complete training in traffic safety so they can protect students from the hazards of crossing roads and highways on their way to and from school; assist bus drivers in safely transporting students to and from school; teach fellow students about traffic safety; and serve other leadership functions under the direction of school officials.

AAA School Safety Patrol began in 1920 when Charles M. Hayes, then president of the Chicago Motor Club, built the infrastructure and provided the resources so other AAA clubs across the U.S. could protect school-aged children walking to and from school. Hayes had witnessed several children at a school crossing get killed by a speeding car. After the horrific incident, Hayes pledged to help prevent such a tragedy from happening again. Patrollers receive traffic safety training designed to keep children safer on their way to and from school and within school buildings.