Successful 'Girls on the Run' Season

Girls on the Run is a physical activity-based youth development program for girls in third through eighth grades, teaching life skills through interactive lessons and running games. Each program season ends with the girls being physically and emotionally prepared to complete a celebratory 5k running event.
 

“This is the first time we operated both Girls on the Run, which is for girls in third through fifth grades, and Girls on Track for sixth- through eighth-grade girls in the same season,” says Liz Fones, council director for the local program, which is sponsored and operated by Diakon Child, Family & Community Ministries, Allentown.

“We had approximately 80 program participants and 90 ‘running buddy’ volunteer mentors as well as 15 coaches and eight event volunteers for this event,” Fones says. “We were fortunate that El Shaddai Ministries opened their doors to us and allowed us use of their community room for our pre- and post-race activities.”
 

The recent 5K marked the conclusion of the program’s 10-week fall program. Participants in the Girls on Track program came from Broughal, Eyer, Harrison Morton, and South Mountain middle schools, while this season’s sites for the Girls on the Run program were at Jordan United Church of Christ and Saucon Valley Elementary School.

Two of the schools—South Mountain and Broughal—participated as part of a priority-school program funded by a grant from the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley. The United Way grant of $16,667 represented a first-year distribution with three more grants, each $20,000, to be provided by United Way over the next three years.
 

“We are extremely grateful for United Way’s support as well as that of other major local sponsors,” says Fones. “This type of community support is vital to our ability to serve more and more girls from the area, some of whom have limited resources to participate in the program.” Other major local sponsors include the Women’s 5K Classic and Highmark.
 

Recent research by Girls on the Run International and the University of Minnesota found that the local program has had a positive impact on participants. In confidence, connection, and character, statistically significant increases in scores were found for girls who began a Girls on the Run program with scores lower than the sample mean, says Fones.
 

In addition, for all participants, the research showed a statistically significant increase in physical activity frequency on weekdays, weekends, and in total, while the number of hours per day of television-watching decreased significantly from pre- to post-season.Girls on the Run is a physical activity-based youth development program for girls in third through eighth grades, teaching life skills through interactive lessons and running games.