Girls On The Run

Local Girls Find Their Star Power

By Kara Couture

Can’t think of a better time to talk about school than during the summer. You read that right. This is the perfect time to talk about a very special program for girls. It’s right around the beginning of the school year—when children can feel stressful about new challenges—that this particular program, Girls on the Run (GOTR), really shines.

Each season ends with a celebratory 5k run in Concord, NH, where all participants wear the number 1. Girls have fun deciding how to “dress up” their running gear—this particular year it was tutus!

Picture this: after-school at Pine Tree Elementary, one classroom comes alive with excited, giggling girls. They gather around a small round table to see what delicious snack was brought for them that day. The round-table gathering creates a comfortable space for informal conversations and sharing before introducing the lesson of the day, which may include strategies for dealing with stress.

Girls on the Run, a 10-week afterschool program, is a character-building program for girls in grades 3 to 5. The mission is to inspire girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum that creatively integrates running. Girls learn to celebrate their bodies, honor their voices, recognize their gifts, and activate their personal power.

The goal of this well-thought-out nonprofit isn’t to turn girls into marathon runners, but to inspire them to be joyful, healthy, and confident individuals who can set a goal and then reach it. So many of the lessons discussed are about teaching girls to recognize their positive qualities and not to listen to negative messages. Young girls today are so bombarded with messages. They are not thin enough, not strong enough, or not good enough. This program teaches them to pay attention to what they can do, instead of what they can’t. It’s been interesting to see them staying plugged into that positive cord. It teaches girls that having a positive attitude is a choice.

Over the 20 sessions, girls will develop and improve competence, feel confidence in who they are, develop strength of character, respond to others and oneself with care and compassion, create positive connections with peers and adults, and make a meaningful contribution to community and society.

The strategies used are good for everybody. It’s not just about girls using the strategies; it’s about passing it on to others—and to boys. Throughout the season, they review their goals and work toward meeting them. The program culminates with the Girls on the Run 5k event in Concord, bringing together hundreds of girls, their families, and community members.

Among the many character-building lessons they experience, the girls learn how create positive connections with others and make meaningful contributions to the community and society.

During each lesson, the group takes time for discussions about topics, such as positive self-talk and stopping negative comments, gossip and how it hurts others, and different phrases to use for empowerment. “When I get upset or don’t know how to handle a situation, I stop and take a BrThRR”, said one Pine Tree participant. “It is a saying that reminds us to Stop, Breath, Think, Respond, and Review.” Another student loves the Star Power lesson, which inspires the girls to practice using visualization to positively impact their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The lesson also teaches strategies to activate and enhance our Star Power, as well as helping others to activate theirs. When their Star Power is activated, they turn their negative self-talk into positive self-talk. They learn that clouds may come in and cover their Star Power, but they choose the power to shine!

Over the 20 sessions, some of the life skills the girls develop include improved competence and confidence in who they are and a heightened ability to respond to others and oneself with care and compassion. One of their “activities” includes presenting each other with “energy awards”—simple cheers to express gratitude for each other and celebrate positive attitudes.

When the girls are done working out, they gather again, in a classroom setting or outside, and review the day’s lesson.

Other topics—nutrition, for instance— are reviewed. And then, usually, an energy award is presented. Energy awards are simple cheers that are used to show gratitude for our friends, as well as to celebrate a positive attitude. “I have fun making up my own energy award,” said another participant.

“Kindred Kara” poses with a participant during a practice. During the first practice, girls are tasked with coming up with an adjective that starts with the first letter of their name. We refer to this name throughout the season.

Towards the end of each season, each girl works with their team to plan and implement a community impact project, which is a key component of the program. The girls work together to come up with the project, use the skills they have learned to complete it, and are empowered to do it again. The Pine Tree group has completed projects around and for the school, including cleaning windows and making thank-you gifts for teachers, creating “Happy Bags” for the oncology patients at Memorial Hospital, sticking positive message throughout the high school walls, and organizing a bake sale and carwash to raise money to donate to the New Life program, so a new mother could purchase a safe mattress. By giving back to the community in small ways, the girls realize they have the power to spark change in the world and see it as a way of life and not a requirement to graduate.

The season culminates with a fun-filled and unique celebratory 5k run in Concord, NH. All participants and coaches are given shirts to wear for the race, but the team decides what to add to it. Accouterments have included tutus, panda hats, high socks, capes, and ponchos for a rainy race. There are photo booths, tattoo station, face-painting, and Zumba to kick-off this non-timed race. Every girl proudly wears a race bib with the number 1 on the front. A fan favorite is watching the entire Pine Tree team wait for their team member and then all crossing the finish line together holding hands. The impact from the program goes far beyond the school yard.

GOTR INFO

• Girls on The Run was founded in 1996 in Charlotte, North Carolina

• The NH council was established in 2001

• Girls on the Run has an Adopt-a-School program

• Pine Tree Elementary had its first season in 2015 and will have its 7th season in the fall of 2019

• GOTR is now in all 10 New Hampshire counties

• Spring 2019 statistics: 114 teams, 1,846 participants, 425 volunteer coaches

• Girls on the Run also has a program for girls in grade 6-8 called Heart and Sole

To help girls track how many laps they’ve run and to encourage them to push themselves, coaches come up with creative ways to track their progress. The Pine Tree team shows off the hair tie lap counters they made for the fall 2018 5K.

For more info regarding the program, visit www.girlsontherunnh.org. For more information about starting a team locally or to sponsor a girl, contact Kara Couture, kara@camphuckins.com.