Perkins Student Achieves High Fitness Goal

By MAGGIE MCMURRAY

Moapa Valley Progress

Running 100 miles in the course of a school year is an ambitious goal for many elementary school children. But one local youth has taken that idea and, well, run with it.

Mateo Bradshaw, a 4th grader at Ute Perkins Elementary school in Moapa, recently finished a goal to run a whopping 400 miles since the beginning of the school year in late August. It is an effort to beat his astounding 300-mile achievement from last year.

Bradshaw travels from Logandale to Moapa every day to attend Perkins. Perkins Elementary already participates in the 100-mile club program. The 100-mile club program encourages students to run or walk 100 miles over the course of the school year in order to help kids build self-esteem, improve overall health, and increase school readiness.

The school instituted the program last year as part of their “Fire Up Your Feet” initiative. The response from students was outstanding. Many students across all grades and age groups, as well as many teachers and parents, were able to increase their fitness goals and accomplish the 100 mile goal.

Some students found that once they got started they really enjoyed running. They just kept going past the 100-mile mark. Bradshaw was one of these. When asked why he set his sights on running 400 miles, Bradshaw replied, “Because I’m in 4th grade. I set that goal at the beginning of the year and I have been running every day before school until I could achieve it.”

Perkins PE teacher Erin Leavitt is very proud of Bradshaw’s accomplishment. She honored him in a special ceremony held last week before school. Bradshaw was presented with a case of Gatorade, a bag of goodies, and a sack of oranges from the school. In addition, his proud grandparents gave him a $100 bill for completing his goal.

Bradshaw was grateful for his parents, who drove him to Perkins early every day so he could accomplish his goal. When asked if he plans on running 500 miles next year, his grandmother was quick to step in and say, “No, but he is planning on running 300 again to make it an even 1,000 miles before he moves on to middle school.”

Other school officials were also very proud of Bradshaw. Natalie Staheli, who is the PE assistant and runs the mileage club for the school was one of those.
“We’re so proud of Mateo for working hard, running, and setting a great example for the other students,” Staheli said.

Although Bradshaw is planning on taking a break for a while, other students will continue running and accruing miles until the end of the year, helping the school move forward with their goals of better health and fitness for everyone.