Students, teachers raise awareness of autism

Lawrence Middle School holds walk-a-thon on April 2

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More than 200 Lawrence Middle School students walked around the school to mark World Autism Day on April 2. 
Seeking to raise awareness about the neurological disorder that affects one in 88 children nationwide, teachers Nicole Miller and Lori Sachs organized the school’s “Light It Up Blue Day” that asked that students and staff to wear blue on the day of the walk.
“My class also went into the community and asked the local stores to hang up our flyers about our April 2 walk,” Miller said. “We wrote to the mayor of Cedarhurst and asked if the village would support us by placing a blue ribbon on each lamp post on Cedarhurst and Central avenues. The mayor said yes to the request, and also decorated Cedarhurst Park with blue bows.” Before the walk, the Miller’s students also met Cedarhurst Mayor Andrew Parise during a visit to his office.
According to the Light It Up Blue website, World Autism Awareness Day was adopted in 2007, and is one of seven health issues recognized by the United Nations with a designated day. The other health issues with international days involve clean drinking water, mental health, diabetes, drug and alcohol abuse, Auto-Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), tobacco abuse, and general health.
In addition to the walk-a-thon, the school plans to have a fundraiser for the Light It Up Blue autism foundation at the end of the month. Miller’s classroom plans to sell bracelets for autism awareness, small ones for a $1 and large ones for $2. “Together the school and the community really tried to raise awareness,” she said.    
  To learn more about autism, visit http://www.autismspeaks.org/.