The Centralia City School District 135 Girls on the Run team is gearing up for the end of the season 5K on May 14th at Forest Park in St. Louis. The CCS team has 15 girls from grades 3-5 and has been practicing since March 10th. The team practices two days a week at Jordan School. They had a practice 5K on April 25th at Foundation Park. All of the girls finished the race with smiles on their faces. It is such an amazing accomplishment for the girls to train and run the 5K.
Girls on the Run is a national program that has over 2400 girls in the St. Louis region that will participate in the end of the season 5K. Girls on the Run is not just a running program, it also contains team building positive energy lessons. The Girls on the Run curriculum combines training for a 5k (3.1 miles) running event with lessons that inspire girls to become independent thinkers, enhance their problem solving skills and make healthy decisions. All of this is accomplished through an active collaboration with girls and their parents, schools, volunteers, staff, and the community. In addition to the 5K, the girls will complete a community impact project. This year the girls have chosen to help the homeless as part of their project. They will partner with the Home-to-School program for the Centralia City School District to accomplish this goal. The Centralia City Schools Girls on the Run Team is coached by Laurie Miller, Kalynn McMillan, Marcia Stinde, and Jeff Bauer.