Girls Wanna Run in Bellefonte promotes exercise, self-esteem

BELLEFONTE — After training for eight weeks, a group of adolescent girls ran together with their family and friends in a 5K race during a beautiful fall morning Oct. 29.

More than 90 fourth- through eighth-grade students took part in the Girls Wanna Run program, that for the past three years has been teaching girls how to be active, have high self-esteem and develop positive health and exercise habits. The program culminated in the 3.1-mile run that started and ended in Governors’ Park.

“It was fun training with the girls and watching them grow,” said Shelby Hamilton, who teaches physical education at Marion-Walker Elementary and helped oversee the program. “We stressed teamwork, cooperation (and) setting goals, and the girls really got it, enjoyed it.”

The girls were supported by many teachers and coaches from the Bellefonte Area School District. The group trained after school at the various schools in the district two times a week to prepare for the event and the teachers and coaches put a lot of time and effort to help the girls prepare, said Jenn Carroll, a teacher from Marion-Walker Elementary who help to organize the event.

The young women were very excited before the race and ready to test themselves.

“It has been fun training and learning to be healthy,” said seventh-grader Sabrina Corman before the run. “The more we trained the better I got, and running became easier. I am excited to run the race today.”

Many parents and siblings came out to support the girls by cheering them on, or running right along with them, including Mark and Natalie Edwards who participated with their daughter Kimberly. This was Kimberly’s third year in the program and she met her goal to complete the race without walking for the first time.

“We are really proud of her, she has been working hard, so it was great to come out and have this time together and see her accomplish her goal,” said Natalie Edwards. “We often think that boys are the ones who should be running outside, but girls can do it too, and today it was awesome.”

“We had a lot of parents, family members, BASD staff and community members volunteer their time for the race. And it would not have been possible without them being there. Kudos to all our volunteers and sponsors,” said Carroll.

The run was open to other runners from the community who were there to support the girls, and this added extra motivation for some.

“At the end there was a boy close to us and he thought he could beat me and my friend Ava,” said sixth-grader Harriet Novak, “but he didn’t and it felt great.”