Shields students experience Girls on the Run curriculum

Girls on the Run of Shields Elementary School recently concluded its first season as a program. A total of 13 fifth-grade girls trained twice a week for 10 weeks while being inspired to be joyful, healthy and confident. The girls completed a fun, experience-based curriculum that creatively integrates running. The after-school lessons were led by trained coaches Devon Reber and Leigh Kaminski, who guided the girls and helped prepare them for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living.

The program also required the girls to participate in a community outreach event. The girls organized a healthy bake sale and sold baked goods to raise money and awareness for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund. The girls went above their goal and were able to raise $307. Haley Archambault, one of the runners, liked that it helped bring awareness of a disease she has endured since she was diagnosed at age 7. She says, “I though that the healthy bake sale was a great way for fifth-graders to see that diabetes is not that I can’t eat sugar, it’s that I can eat it in a healthy way. I am thankful that we raised $307 for JDRF.”

The season came to a conclusion May 21 when the girls, along with their running buddies and other members of the community, completed a 5K at Silver Lake Park in Dover. While the day was rainy and gray, the girls brought the sunshine as they celebrated all of their hard work and dedication this season. Runner Eve Mundok said “I feel all the girls really put everything they learned about pacing themselves into the 5K. I think all the girls will take the life skills our coaches taught us about gossip, rumors and true beauty to let the star inside us shine.”