Teen commutes 5 hours a day to school

NEW YORK

One young man travels five hours a day to get to his future.

He travels from near the Atlantic Ocean in Queens all the way to the Bronx and back every day.

The sun is never up yet in Far Rockaway when Santiago Munoz starts his long trip to school.

For the next two and a half hours, he will sit, and stand, and doze and finally walk the final blocks.

Santiago leaves his home in Far Rockaway at 5:50 a.m. and catches the Q22 bus. A few minutes later, he transfers to the Q52 or Q53, and at 6:51 he goes underground.

The A train at Rockaway Boulevard takes him to Fulton Street, where, at around 7:30 he transfers to the number 4 train which gets him to school around 8:30.

"My son is strong, intelligent and he's going to go very far," his father Julio says, and in fact, he already has.

Santiago's story is part of an exhibit at the United Nations this week that chronicles the journeys to school of children around the world.

They walk in heavy boots in Alaska or barefoot in Kenya, by donkey or bicycle or all terrain vehicle, but all headed for school.

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