There are many different types of education.
And when safety is the subject in question, sometimes elementary school students seem to know more than college students.
"Look to your left, look to your right," said WXPN-FM's Kathy O'Connell. The Kid's Corner host addressed a group of third-grade students yesterday. "Between you and me, there are students at the University of Pennsylvania that don't know how to do that before they cross the street."
Yesterday, marking the completion of a new safety program, a group of students from Alexander Wilson Elementary School celebrated with a safety activity fair and speeches by the Philadelphia fire commissioner, police officers, PECO officials and University President Judith Rodin.
Pioneered by a collaboration between the Penn-affiliated WXPN-FM and PECO, the program -- called "Creating a Safe Place for Kids" -- was created out of a mutual interest.
"The folks at Kid's Corner are always trying to help kids have fun and be safe," said Cathy Engel, a PECO spokeswoman. "This is something that we are interested in as well."
For PECO, and parent company Exelon, this interest in children extends beyond West Philadelphia.
"Lots of competing businesses, including Exelon, have joined together to form the `Power of America' fund," Engel said. The fund will provide scholarship money to the victims of the World Trade Center tragedy.
The events of Sept. 11 did not go unnoticed by the Wilson Elementary students.
Wearing white hard hats with the United States flag emblazoned on the back, and holding hand-drawn signs reading "God Bless the Firefighters" and "God Bless the Police Officers," students sang "God Bless America" in memory of those who died while rescuing others.
"It's impossible to guarantee worldwide safety," O'Connell said. "The events of Sept. 11 proved that. All we really can do to help children be safe is to teach those around us and give them the right tools to take care of themselves."
"Creating a Safe Place for Kids" is attempting to do just that by reaching as many children as possible. Wilson Elementary, which has a relationship with Penn's Center for Community Partnerships, is the only school that WXPN and PECO have reached so far. Their booklet -- distributed on the Internet and at WXPN events -- contains information from fire safety to pet safety.
The organizations plan to expand their scope, continuing the safety fair and possibly offering the program to other schools.
"Kids and safety are never a bad idea," O'Connell said. "There will always be kids, and there will always be a need for safety."
