A Henrico elementary student recently won first place in the 20th annual AAA School Safety Patrol Essay contest themed, “What Serving as a AAA School Safety Patrol Means to Me.”

Jennifer Lopez, a student from Arthur Ashe Jr. Elementary School in Henrico County, received a U.S. Savings Bond valued at $200 for her winning essay.
 
“We were excited to once again sponsor this year’s Safety Patrol Essay Contest along with the AAA Retirees Club,” said Randy Green, manager of safety services for the Mid-Atlantic Foundation for Safety and Education. “The contest allowed students the opportunity to express their views regarding the importance of the safety patrol in relation to the traffic safety duties they perform.”
 
The AAA School Safety Patrol Program has been assisting schools and communities with keeping students safe since 1921. Three hundred ninety-nine lives have been saved by students serving as AAA safety patrols since the AAA Safety Patrol Lifesaver Program began in 1949.

Today, more than 660,000 serve in 31,000 schools in 31 states and in the District of Columbia, including more than 15,000 patrols in Virginia elementary schools.