By Greenberg                                           H.R. No. 535
         76R10370 JHS-D                           
                                 R E S O L U T I O N
 1-1           WHEREAS, From 1989 to 1999, students in all grades at
 1-2     Austin's Highland Park Elementary School participated in a daily
 1-3     wellness program known as the Around the World Walk/Run; and
 1-4           WHEREAS, This ingenious program encourages students to walk
 1-5     or run a half-mile each day throughout the nine-month school term;
 1-6     each year for the past decade, students have totaled some 25,000
 1-7     miles, which is the equivalent of circumnavigating Earth at the
 1-8     equator; and
 1-9           WHEREAS, During the course of this decade-long program, more
1-10     than 5,000 Highland Park Elementary School students have
1-11     participated in it and have logged a grand total of 250,000 miles,
1-12     or the distance from Earth to the moon; and
1-13           WHEREAS, The Around the World Walk/Run's contributions to the
1-14     health and fitness of the school's students have helped to produce
1-15     hundreds of Presidential Fitness Award winners; the program also
1-16     increases students' knowledge of world geography and cultural
1-17     diversity as they chart their collective progress on a map and
1-18     study the cultures of the different countries in which they find
1-19     themselves; and
1-20           WHEREAS, The Around the World Walk/Run program has been cited
1-21     by the President's Blue Ribbon Schools Commission as a "very unique
1-22     and creative student enrichment experience," and its positive
1-23     effects cannot be overstated; now, therefore, be it
1-24           RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 76th Texas
 2-1     Legislature hereby commend the faculty, staff, and students of
 2-2     Highland Park Elementary School for their enthusiastic
 2-3     participation in the Around the World Walk/Run program; and, be it
 2-4     further
 2-5           RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
 2-6     prepared for Highland Park Elementary School as an expression of
 2-7     high regard by the Texas House of Representatives.