The Cupertino Courier

Cover Story

Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

I'm Off: Shikhar Jagadeesh, a second-grader at Murdock-Portal Elementary School, heads out to run laps after receiving his running card.

Run=Fun

Running club takes off

By Erin Hussey

For most adults, a red ribbon doesn't do much in terms of motivation, but for several students in the Cupertino Union Elementary School District, it's all the inspiration they need.

"I will walk across campus, and kids will yell out, 'Mrs. D'Amour, I got another ribbon! I'm on my second card!' " said Colleen D'Amour, a parent at West Valley Elementary School. "They are just so proud of themselves."

D'Amour, along with fellow parent Mindy Lieberman, was responsible for bringing a running club to the West Valley campus this year.

"I saw that some kids need a little bit more structure at lunchtime," D'Amour said. "It just seemed like a lot of them were just standing around."

So, to encourage a more active lunchtime, D'Amour and Lieberman researched other district running clubs and came up with a model of their own.

The goal: have the youngsters run a total of 11,462 miles--the equivalent of running from California to Florida and back, and then from California to Washington, D.C., and back. The incentive: hole punches, ribbons and having principal Anne Brown dye her hair a bright color. To date, the students have made it to Wyoming on their way to Washington, D.C. Two have already logged 100 miles.

The students' dedication has Brown a little nervous. She's already consulting her hairstylist about what color she could most quickly wash out of her hair.

The program at West Valley is similar to the 18 other running clubs in the district. Nimitz Elementary, whose students have been running for two years, shaved its principal's head last year after students surpassed their goal of 10,000 miles.

The Running Club, which encourages not only running around a marked track, but any sort of movement, including walking, skipping and dancing, is helping students release energy and slim down. Most importantly, it's changing their views on exercising.

"Some kids are walking around and their pants are falling off," Brown said. "I'm not joking. With our change in food at school and with all the running, I'm really hoping we will see the results in our physical fitness testing." Last year only 56 percent of the fifth-grade students tested in the district passed.

The students are tested in six categories: aerobic capacity, body composition, abdominal strength, trunk extension strength, upper body strength and flexibility. In order to receive a passing mark, students must fall within the "Healthy Fitness Zone" in five of the six categories.

With the help of the running clubs and a new districtwide Wellness Policy that requires students to participate in at least 100 minutes of physical activity a week, it is likely the results for next year's test will be measurably better.

"From my office I can see the track, and there are always people out there exercising," said Brown. In addition to running at lunchtime, many West Valley teachers take their classes out to run and walk with them during the day.

"I make time for it in my day because it benefits them," said first-grade teacher Nina Norman. While district students do participate in structured physical fitness classes twice a week, teachers are still required to incorporate activities to help the students achieve the 100-minute mark. Some do things like "mathaerobics" or other academic centered games, but heading out to the track is always an easy option.

"I definitely view it as an important part of their education," said Norman, who regularly walks with her students around the track. "All the research has shown that if they are physically fit, their academic skills improve."

D'Amour has noted such a change in her third-grade son.

"My older son has a hard time sitting still in class," she said. "Last year was kind of rough for him, but he's having a great year this year. I believe it's because he is running around and getting a lot more energy out, and this helps him out in the classroom."

Murdock-Portal Elementary is another district school that started a running program this year and is experiencing the positive benefits.

"I think one of the reasons why it is such a big draw is because every kid can participate," Murdock-Portal Principal Leslie Mains said. "What I also think is interesting is that some of our least active kids are running, and for our kids that have a hard time making friends, it's something that they feel connected to."

The running club, which was started by parent Ching Bays, has close to a 75 percent participation rate. Unlike West Valley or Nimitz, the students at Murdock-Portal are not running to hit a specific mile number. They've set personal goals.

"We encouraged them to set a goal for themselves and follow through with that goal," Mains said. "We are a pretty non-competitive school, so getting that card hole-punched with a ribbon attached is huge."

The noncompetitive, ribbon-reward approach seems to be working.

"My daughter had a field trip today, and she said, 'I want it to rain so no one can get ahead of me,' " said Jennifer Chan. "She is just so proud of her ribbons."

Another parent volunteer, Jennifer Harrington, added that while in a first-grade classroom, she observed many students writing about the running club.

"They were writing about the word 'effort' and about half of them were writing about the running club," she said. "They are really excited about it."

While the 18 Cupertino Union schools that have running clubs each use a variation of the program, one thing is for certain: The students are learning to enjoy exercising.

"This is the time to change their desire and their perception about physical activity," said Harrington. "I think making the change after fifth grade is too late; at that point they are already not interested and would rather do something that doesn't take as much energy or effort."

D'Amour agreed. She said that if she had opportunities like the running club during her early school years, she probably would have felt differently about running.

"We never had P.E. growing up. It hit in middle school," she said. "All of a sudden we had to run laps, and it was painful and I hated it, and then I went to high school and I still hated it. I wish I was a runner, but I walk. I just love that for my kids, it is more a part of their lives. It's there from the beginning."