Minot Forest students run, jump, and skip to help their school
Mar 5, 2020
The Boosterthon Fun Run had students running, skipping, and jumping laps around the gym to raise money for their school. Photos by: Kenneth Borges
Geronimo Joe was the motivates the group of students as they run as many laps as they can.
After completing each lap, an adult writes in a check-mark on the students’ shirts.
Minot Forest students run through an inflatable tunnel to raise money for their school.
Colossal Chris dances the Macarena as kids run laps around the gym.
Ashlynn (left) and Gianna (right ran all 35 laps of the Fun Run on Thursday, March 5.
Ashlynn and Gianna’s shirts show the proof of their hard work.
Students at Minot Forest and Wareham Middle School spent two weeks collecting donation pledges and being taught character-building lessons. On March 5, they celebrated by running, skipping, and jumping in the annual Boosterthon Fun Run.
The annual fundraiser challengers students to complete up to 35 laps around the school gym to raise money for their school. They can gather a “flat donation” before the run or have supporters pledge a certain amount of money for each lap completed.
This year, the two schools achieved their goal of raising $15,000 for arts enrichment, which includes field trips, and bringing in guest speakers to the school.
In the seven school days leading up to the Fun Run, Boosterthon representatives Colossal Chris, Zig Zag Zach, Geronimo Joe, and Acrobat Kat visited students in Wareham to promote ideals like kindness and respect. They also provided incentives to collect pledge donations.
Boosterthon is a Georgia-based program that helps facilitate fundraisers in schools.
The Boosterthon representatives gave character-building presentations that included five-minute videos during lunch time to help instill values in the students.
They also offered nightly challenges in which top pledge collectors got a chance to duct-tape Colossal Chris to a chair or throw a pie at one of the Boosterthon adults. There are also awards for classes, like sundaes, and a glow in the dark dance party.
The first Fun Run Session on Thursday featured a large group of Minot Forest students from 11:50 a.m. to 12:35 p.m.
As the Boosterthon representatives shouted out commands and words of encouragement, the kids did their best to hit the full 35 laps. While kids spent most of the time running, some laps were reserved for jumping, skipping, and walking.
There was a Taylor Swift inspired “Shake It Off” lap, and Colossal Chris even led students through the Macarena for one lap.
As students completed each lap, an adult added another check mark to the back of their Fun Run tee shirts to make their progress official for the fundraiser.
Teacher Ariel Gillis said the fundraiser is good for the kids because it offers an alternative to the traditional approach of selling things door to door, and that the students love the whole two weeks of the annual fundraiser.
Colossal Chris said that the Boosterthon program is beneficial because “the students and the Wareham community get so much out of it.”
He added that Wareham students in particular are “super engaged” with the fundraiser.
