Westlake Safety Town Graduations

Mayor Dennis M Clough presented each Safety Town graduate with a diploma. They received congratulations from Westlake Fire Chief Hughes and Westlake Police Chief Bielozer, a t-shirt from Senior Instructor Adam Schordock, and a high 5 from Safety Pup.

Mayor Dennis M. Clough, Westlake Police Chief Kevin Bielozer, and Westlake Fire Chief Jim Hughes spoke to parents and congratulated the newest graduates from the first session of this year’s Safety Town on Friday, June 22. They encouraged the parents to continue to review the information with their children during the summer and said they looked forward to seeing the children again as take part in various programs in coming years in the Westlake schools.

The City has been offering Safety Town for 48 years and the popular summer program has been directed since 2002 by Olivia Kostecke. Its purpose is to teach children who will be entering kindergarten in the fall about pedestrian safety, bicycle safety, school bus safety, water safety, gun safety, 911 safety, fire safety, stranger safety, internet safety, and animal safety.

The Safety Town classroom at the Westlake Police Department.

Kostecke is assisted by 195 volunteers this summer, some for their first summer and others for as many as their seventh. The number of volunteers also permits a 1:1 match between student and volunteer for each class in each session. Kostecke and some of the volunteers were once students in a Safety Town program.

NOTE: Space is still available for the classes in the final two-week Session Four (July 16 – July 27). Learn more about Safety Town and how to register at www.cityofwestlake.org/Safety-Town