PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – About 85 percent of the fourth-graders in Lyman Elementary School have signed up for a week-long, 50-mile walk from Portsmouth, N.H., to Lyman.

The 9- and 10-year-olds will average about 10 miles a day, passing through Eliot, York, North and South Berwick and Kennebunk. Along the route, they’ll learn about local history, geography, architecture and folk tales.

The trek was the brainchild of Jon Gale, a 60-year-old registered Maine guide who’s retiring after a dozen years as the school’s principal. Gale said he wanted to do something in his final year that students might remember for years to come.

“I wanted to give the kids something they would be proud of that would take a truly sustained effort,” he said. “It might lead them into other ambitious ventures throughout their lives, knowing they could succeed at something they thought they couldn’t do.”

Gale said he envisioned the walk as a scaled-back version of Outward Bound, the wilderness education school in which he has participated.

“It challenges you beyond what you think you can do and then it gives you the support to succeed,” he said.

Some parents and teachers had qualms about the walk, viewing it as too ambitious an undertaking for fourth-graders, Gale acknowledged. But far more parents have embraced the idea as a way to help children be active and learn lessons that can’t be conveyed in the classroom.

A fire truck will escort the youngsters May 6 for the final leg of their trek back to Lyman Elementary, where the entire school will turn out for their return and enjoy a welcome-back barbecue with the families later in the day.

Mary Walsh, a second-grade teacher at the school and mother of a fourth-grader there, plans to join the group for the final two days of the journey. She said part of the value of the trek lies in the challenge.

“Perseverance in a 50-mile hike can help them persevere more in projects and things that might seem insurmountable,” she said. “They’ll push because they’ve pushed themselves before.”

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