While countless high school students enjoy driving to school and work, one Oak Harbor High School student relied on good-old foot power to travel through town.

Junior Camillia Garey recently spent two weeks without using anything that requires gasoline. She discovered how different life would be without the convenience of automobiles.

She had to walk one mile, each way, to and from school. She walked to and from McDonalds, where she works part time.

“It sometimes was pretty inconvenient,” Garey said. “I learned the shortcuts around Oak Harbor.”

The gasoline-free two weeks was an extra-credit assignment in an advanced-placement history class.

“It did teach me how reliant we are on gas,” Garey said. During the two week period, she didn’t set foot in a car.

She did have some difficulties trying to participate in her activities. As she helps tutoring Spanish to elementary school students, she had to walk from the high school to Olympic View Elementary School.

“That was the most inconvenient,” Garey said.

The two weeks did provide some awkward moments. As a member of Navy Junior ROTC, Garey had to walk to school in her uniform. She would also have to walk across town to participate in Theta Rho, a community service group affiliated with the International Order of Odd Fellows.

Garey had to keep a log outlining how she moved around town. Her friends offered support for her and would often walk with her to and from school and to her activities.

She added that another student wanted to participate in the assignment with her. However, it was too difficult because she lived outside Oak Harbor.

The extra-credit assignment came developed from escalating gas prices.

“This came up because of our most recent gas crisis,” said Steve Whiteman, history teacher at the high school.

Gas prices on North Whidbey Island have been over $2 a gallon for a year. Gas prices in Oak Harbor ranged from $2.33 a gallon to $2.69 a gallon.

Offering such an extra-credit assignment comes as students get their licenses and are eager to drive.

He said students in his AP history class would complain about rising gas prices. However, he wanted his students to look beyond complaining about a problem.

“Mostly what I’d like to do is get kids into a thinking mode,” Whiteman said. Since the students don’t have a voice in the price of gas, they can look at alternatives to driving.

Whiteman often assigns projects that push students to actually experience the things the are learning about. When discussing colonial times, for example, he provided such assignments as making bread from wheat or building furniture.

Students discussed the homelessness and hunger many people living during the Great Depression endured. He has had an extra-credit assignment where a student would be homeless for a weekend.

“It gets kids to focus on their subject matter,” Whiteman said.

It seemed to work in Garey’s case. She still walks to school on most days. Not only does it make her less dependent on cars, she is getting into shape as well.