Walking across the country for education
By BLAIR DEDRICK ORTMANN
February, 11, 2009

While spending three years of living in Prague and teaching teachers how to teach English as a Second Language, Skip Potts decided that walking was the way to travel.

So, he started walking in Boston Sept. 1, 2008, and Wednesday was on his way from Mauriceville to Beaumont.

"I just got through walking through the South," he said, casually, talking on his cell phone while cars passed in the background. "I'd never been there before."

Once he'd decided to walk, Potts, 30, decided he could support a cause through his feet, and, since he thinks education is the most important part of lifting individuals and communities out of poverty, that's what he picked.

"I was lucky to go to a lot of good public schools, but there are a lot of bad ones," he said. "Education, while not the fastest solution, helps the most in the long-run."

So, before he started, he founded People For Educational Equality, or PFEE.

"I've been to places where the schools only have funding for 500 pieces of paper through the year," Potts said. "And that's for classes teaching reading and writing where you need paper. It's only $5 for a ream of paper, but it could make a real difference."

As he walks, Potts said he picks up the occasional donation for the cause, in addition to food and drinks that people bring him. Any money donated to the cause will go entirely toward helping schools, he said. He is supporting himself on the trip with a no-interest loan.

"Before I started this, I didn't really have much faith in humanity, but now, people are so generous, so nice. It's overwhelming how much good is out there that I didn't know before," he said.

Potts is walking about 30 miles per day and either camping or couch surfing at night. Couch surfers are members of an online community that connects travelers with hosts willing to let a stranger into their home.

From Beaumont, his route will take him to Houston and Austin, then turn northwest to San Angelo and Odessa before hitting New Mexico.

He plans to end the adventure at the Santa Monica, Calif., pier.

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PROFILE | Skip Potts, education advocate 

NU grad walks the talk

 BY DAVE MOLLER
 Senior Staff Writer

The Union, Grass Valley, California

More than a decade after graduating from Nevada Union High School, Skip Potts is walking across the country to raise money so children at other schools can get an education as good as the one he took for granted. The 1997 graduate ended up teaching math at the University of Nevada, Reno. Then, he spent three years teaching English to Czechs in Prague and training others to teach it as well. Through that experience and his travels, Potts became aware of what his hometown school had done for him, and what others weren’t getting at theirs. That led him to found the nonprofit People For Educational Equality. “NU’s a pretty good school, and I was fortunate,” Potts said this week while resting and writing at a friend’s home in Gainsville, Fla. He’s about one-third of the way into the 3,800-mile trek that started near Boston and will end at the Santa Monica Pier.
  “A lot of public schools aren’t very good,” Potts said. “I wanted to help them by raising funds and awareness. I’ve been to grammar schools in North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama that don’t have enough money for paper. It’s shocking.”
  About $2,000 has come in so far for a fund Potts hopes to expand to provide supplies to needy American schools and to keep programs running.
  He started his walk Sept. 1. Potts’ sister, Michella Sedivy of Grass Valley, said she is very proud of her brother.
  “I wish it were a better economy for him so he could get more money for his cause,” Sedivy said. “It’s a long walk, and I’m worried about him, but he’s very self-
 See POTTS A5