One last lesson: Retiring Long Island teacher to walk 83 miles for students with cerebral palsy
COMMACK, Long Island (WABC) -- It is not the average sendoff for someone retiring - but Chris Polhemus, a teacher at the Children's Center in Commack, is anything but average.
The 66-year-old phys. ed. teacher with United Cerebral Palsy of Long Island has been training to walk from Commack to Montauk, an 83-mile four-day trek that began Friday, to raise thousands of dollars for an independent learning space at the center.
He's always inspiring his 80 students to work hard, any way he can.
"He sings songs. He dances. He gets up on ladders to try to get them to look up if they have difficulty looking up. These children are in wheelchairs," said Kim Polhemus, Chris's wife.
The first day of his walk will be from Commack to Medford (17 miles); day 2 to Hampton Bays (30 miles); day 3 to East Hampton (20 miles); and finally, to Montauk on day 4 (16 miles).
"I've dropped 22 pounds since I started training January 5th," said Plhemus. "It was raining on Memorial Day weekend. I just took an umbrella and I walked 40,000 steps."
It's a final lesson after his decades of teaching - and one that Polhemus says is a "joy."
"The students are the stars of the show. Not me," he said. "I'm just showing the kids what they do every single day."
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