Illinois
kids in Read, Right & Run
Angela
Mayer |
Kids at Columbia,
Ill., Middle School had plenty of obstacles in their first
year in the Read, Right & Run program. But, neither a
serious school fire nor icy streets could stop them.
Read, Right &
Run is an area-wide student-activity program that has kids
combine reading books, doing good works and running. It's
sponsored by the Spirit of St. Louis Marathon.
It ends with an
area-wide Family Fitness Weekend April 1-4, 2004.
In addition to
lots of family fitness activities, the weekend includes two
adult marathons. First, there's the 2004 Women's U.S. Olympic
Team Marathon on Saturday, April 3. Then, the Spirit of St.
Louis Marathon will be held Sunday, April 4. .
(The Read,
Right & Run program has been going on in schools since
last fall. However, there are plenty of individual activities
for family and kids at the Family Fitness Weekend. For information
how you can participate, log on to the St. Louis Marathon's
website at www.stlouismarathon.com.)
Chris
Coulter |
At the time Coach
Jon Wehrenberg was starting the Columbia program last fall,
about 30 per cent of the middle school burned down. Among
the facilities lost was one of the school's gyms, cutting
down on opportunities for running indoors.
Then, after the
first of the year, a series of area-wide storms coated city
streets and sidewalks with ice, cutting down on outside running
too.
Two of the kids
in the Columbia program had a neat answer for meeting the
running requirements.
Fourteen-year-old
Angela Mayer has done much of her running on a treadmill in
the basement of her home. "I usually run about a mile
at a time but I'm going to increase that," she said.
Thirteen-year-old
Chris Coulter said the indoor treadmill he used was at The
Training Room, a Columbia fitness facility. "I try to
run two miles each day," he said.
Erik
Roediger |
For many of the
others, they still got in a lot of running in gym and basketball
practices. Also, when track starts, they'll be able to catch
up on the running requirement.
But, the sponsors
of Read, Right & Run wanted the program to stress more
than just physical fitness. So, they added reading and character-building
components.
Fourteen-year-old
Erik Roediger said he gets plenty of exercise, with basketball
and track. But, he said the reading requirement "makes
me read more." He said he likes books but "I don't
ordinarily read at home."
He said he likes
adventure stories. One of books he read was "Far North."
That tells of high school kids who are in a plane crash in
Alaska. They have to survive in the wilderness before they
are rescued.
Trent
Blank |
Chris Coulter
said the reading requirement also made him "read a lot
more books than I would ordinarily."
Fourteen-year-old
Trent Blank and 13-year-old Emily Schmidt liked the "good
deeds" portion of the program.
Emily said the
reading is easy for her. "I've read about 25 books already
this year," she said. She's also active in scouting activities
that involve lots of service projects.
But, she said
keeping a Read, Right & Run diary "helps me to realize
all the things I do in the community." Her good works
includes helping with Girl Scout and Brownie projects and
she helped with a Boy Scout food drive.
She also helps
her mother in PTA projects.
Blank said he
thought the "good deed" requirements will "make
me a better all-around person."
Emily
Schmidt |
The Columbia kids
participate in many activities, including scholars programs.
Angela Mayer plays
clarinet and Erik Roediger plays trumpet in the school band.
Chris Coulter
is on the School Improvement Committee. That's a teacher-student
group that tries to make Columbia Middle a better school.
"I help to give the student viewpoint," he said.
He helps with
a soup kitchen run by his church, First Baptist Church. He
also helps clean the church.
All of them said
they were looking forward to taking part in the Family Fitness
Weekend in Forest Park at the beginning of April. They do
the final two-plus miles of their total marathon distance
of 26-plus miles during the weekend.
