From Jenny Stack GSCF
With the help of a new initiative from the Greater Salina Community Foundation, thousands of elementary school children may accomplish something they never thought they could- completing a marathon.
The Foundation is pleased to announce a new grant designed to help Salina elementary schools offer school marathon programs for students in grades 1-5. Seven elementary schools have elected to participate in the program for fall 2012. The Foundation anticipates more than 2,500 students will participate.
A school marathon provides a structure for students to run or walk distances that add up to a marathon, 26.2 miles, over a period of 5-6 weeks. Modifications are made for students with special needs to ensure that all have an opportunity to be successful. Students receive incentives for every 5 miles they complete. Parents, teachers and community volunteers assist with the tracking and coordination of the events.
The School Marathon Grants were non-competitive and offered to all 10 Salina elementary schools as part of the Greater Salina Community Foundation’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative. This initiative is aimed at creating healthy communities by emphasizing better nutrition and increased physical activity. The initiative is funded by the Kansas Health Foundation, a private philanthropy dedicated to improving the health of all Kansans. The Community Foundation has also received a local matching grant for the marathon project from the Community Health Investment Program at the Salina Regional Health Foundation.
Schools receiving the grant will track participation of not only students but also school staff, parents and siblings that take part in the marathons. Schools will also track academic performance, office referrals, tardies, absences and nurse referrals. The Foundation will compile information and compare results of these markers during the marathon to the same markers during the school year when the marathons are not taking place.
Each participating school designed its own marathon program. Schools who have offered marathons in the past are serving as mentors for new schools. Grant funding for each school is based on the number of students that complete the marathon program. Total grants awarded will be approximately $36,750.
The 2011 School Marathon Grant recipients are:
• Coronado Elementary School
• Heusner Elementary School
• Meadowlark Ridge Elementary School
• Oakdale Elementary School
• St. Mary’s Elementary School
• Schilling Elementary School
• Stewart Elementary School
When all schools have completed the marathons, students who have completed the full marathon will be invited to participate in a larger community celebration.
Additional grants will be offered to schools that have at least 75% of their students complete the marathon. For those schools, the Foundation will offer $500 grants for playground or PE equipment.
The Foundation also anticipates offering funding for participating schools to conduct “mini-marathon” days in the spring of 2012 that will include exercise and a healthy snack before state assessment testing.
The Foundation hopes to make the marathons an annual event for all elementary children in the community.