Great description of the Game On walk. Thank you PV Post!
“But for [Devin] Wilson, the attention the walk attracts for Game On’s cause is well worth the price of aching muscles and blistered toes. In fact, it was coverage of [Heather] Ousley’s first walk that got Wilson involved in Game On in the first place. Much like Ousley, Wilson had watched news trickle in about the state of Johnson County schools that had him furrowing his brow. A north central Kansas native, Wilson and his wife had bought a home in Lenexa in 2000 largely on the reputation of the Shawnee Mission schools his kids would attend. Now that the couple’s two children were school aged, that reputation seemed to be in danger. Wilson became an active presence in Game On. The more people the group can bring to the cause, the better, he thinks…
“The economic argument for keeping funding for public schools strong resonated with Ben Clayton, husband of Rep. Stephanie Clayton, who walked the first leg of the journey Friday.
“’People are now moving to where they want to live,’ Clayton said. ‘And business is following the talent. And if Kansas thinks it can afford to deemphasize education and to throw away all the things that have traditionally been good about Kansas — and education’s been primary — then we’re going to lose those people and the businesses that come with it.’…
“In the walk’s first two years, the monotony of plodding west across the still-brown Kansas plains was broken only sporadically by visits from friends and well-wishers.
“This year, it was as if the stream of supporters never stopped.
“In addition to the 12 walkers who set out to make it the whole distance, approximately 50 more joined for long stretches or whole days. On Saturday morning, 100 people came out to a rally in Eudora, where Eudora School District Superintendent Steve Splichal gave a speech supporting the group. A Eudora PTA group made the walkers breakfast and coffee. Families joined the walkers as they made their way through town. A police car gave them an escort through the Eudora streets…
“And a few hours later a group of nearly 200 turned out at Lawrence’s South Park for another rally, this time with Reps. Tom Sloan and John Wilson lending their support. Reporters kept showing up along the journey to interview the walkers…
“The goal, all along, was to get people paying attention, to get people involved in Game On — a small advocacy group that started with Belinder parents and has grown to take on a statewide profile.
“In the past year, Game On’s Facebook page has picked up 4,333 followers. That number continued to tick up as the group made its way to Topeka over the weekend.
“’People really feel like they’re not being heard, and this gives them the opportunity to do something and to make noise,’ Heather Ousley said. ‘I think camaraderie from the walk is really good. Because otherwise you’re thinking, ‘Am I the only person who’s feeling this way?’ And then you come together and realize, ‘Oh no, there’s quite a few of us out there.’ You can’t be cynical and think, ‘There’s nothing I can do.’ That’s absolutely not true.’”