ORANGE — Six seniors from Mahar Regional School are helping younger students develop healthy habits they hope will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
The teens will travel to Dexter Park each week to host a new running club for sixth-graders.
Though the club just started at the beginning of March, its members said they have seen a lot of students enthusiastic about the program, with around 30 to 35 joining in each day the club meets.
Dexter Park currently has two running programs: Boys on the Right Track and Girls on the Run, but the programs meet after school, which can pose problems for students without access to transportation. So when the seniors approached the principal about the idea of a running club during recess, staffers were all in.
The elementary school students run laps during recess, while the seniors track their miles. In order to motivate the students to run, the club hands out prizes for miles accomplished. Kayla Cleveland, a senior at Mahar, said the club even hosts a moment of recognition for the pupils by announcing each day’s prize winners over the school’s intercom system.
As part of an honors class, the seniors spent months organizing the club by researching the best way to implement more physical activity into the students’ days, visiting other surrounding schools and meeting with Principal Christopher Dodge.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, childhood obesity affects 12.7 million children and adolescents in the United States, some of the causes being eating and various physical activity behaviors.
At Dexter Park, students meet once a week for a 40-minute physical education class. Knowing the students’ access to exercise was limited, the seniors wanted to allow the students to have more time to be active throughout the week.
Jack Temple, a senior at Mahar, said as part of their research for the club, they explored the physical activity programs at not only Dexter Park, but surrounding towns, including Erving and New Salem. Ultimately, the group chose Dexter Park for its focus.
“We went and visited (Dexter Park) a few times and kids weren’t running and playing,” said senior Ava Paine.
The schools in Erving and New Salem already had their students engaged in physical activity, Temple said, because of the 100 Mile Club, a national program that encourages students across the country to run, jog or walk 100 miles during the school year.
“Dexter Park was the school we really needed to work with because it didn’t have the 100 Mile Club, so we wanted to give (students) something that they could work with and enjoy every day,” Cleveland said.
But funding was tight. To get the club off to a start, the seniors raised about $1,000 — $500 of which came from Modo Gym in Orange, while the rest came from other local businesses and community members. The group said the funds go directly to the students and Dexter Park, along with prizes that encourage them to keep up with their miles. Prizes include bracelets and bubble jump ropes, with foam footballs yet to come.
“Every day that we go, (students) get more excited every time, and it is really nice to make a connection with the kids,” Cleveland said.
The club’s impact is more than just on fitness — it allows the younger children to develop relationships with mentors and create goals for themselves, Dodge said.
“The sixth-graders are just waiting for (the seniors) to show up,” he said.
Dodge hopes to encourage all students at each grade level to eventually join the club.
Even though the seniors are graduating this year, they plan to keep the club going. They are currently searching for an adviser to sustain the program for next year and hope to expand their club’s reach.
“We are working really hard to make sure the kids do have something, because you can tell every day they want to do this. This is something they want at their school, and hopefully, we can branch out to other grades, too,” Cleveland said.