Queens student has worst school commute

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NEW YORK, March 4 (UPI) -- A 14-year-old student from New York City is being featured in a photo exhibit Monday night at the United Nations for his more than 2-hour commute to school.

Santiago Munoz, who lives in a Far Rockaway housing project in Queens gets up a 5 a.m. to take a bus to the subway to get to the Bronx High School of Science every morning, the New York Post reported.

The trip to the Bronx high school -- one of the best in the country -- takes him between two hours and 20 minutes and two hours and 40 minutes, depending on how transit is running.

"The trip I do every day to get to school everyone should be willing to do to get a good education," he said.

Munoz's journey is being featured in a photo exhibit titled "Journeys to School," sponsored in part by Veolia, an international transit company. The exhibit highlights the hardships children face getting to school.

Other students featured in the exhibit are a Brazilian kid who rides a donkey school and a girl in Kenya who walks two hours to get to class.

"Even though it takes me longer, their trips are harder," Munoz said of the other children featured in the exhibit. "I think I'm privileged to take a train compared to a donkey. I'd prefer a long ride and a safer trip than going one hour through a gang-filled or war-torn country."