Photo by Erin Dahl
“The Bailey Station Run Club is one of the best things going at our school,” said Principal Cindy Tesreau.
The Run Club was one of the Healthy School Team’s goals two years ago. They were looking for a way all students could get exercise that would be affordable and convenient for all. Parents and teachers all stepped up and made it happen.
This is the fourth semester the Run Club has been in action. Presently the Run Club has 150 students and about 45 parents and 14 teachers who come every Wednesday morning at 7:20 a.m. to run. Students in kindergarten through the second grade take the Bailey Bear Boogie track and grades 3- 5 run the perimeter of the school. Students run until about 8:30 a.m. and then come in the gym to have their marks on their hands counted to track their mileage, and to eat a healthy breakfast bar and drink water. Students receive ‘toe-tokens’ (which looks like a flying tennis shoe) for each run, as well as special tokens when they reach milestones.
“The Run Club would not happen without the parents,” said Coach Cheryl White, the lead Run Club teacher.
Some parents come and run with their students, but most come to set up cones, be hand markers, track monitors, give out tokens, keep the wall mileage chart up to date, or clean up. Key parents send out all emails and communications and line-up the parent volunteers each week. Ten teachers come to Run Club each week, which is “way above the call of duty,” according to Tesreau. Teachers lead students on both tracks and are a great inspiration to the students. Many teachers report improved student behaviors from Run Club members.
For $10 students get to run for eight weeks, receive tokens and a t-shirt.
