By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
Kids at Grant Bowler Elementary school, got to take a little break from the classroom to run or walk on the playground at the end of last week. And in doing so, they helped raise money for some of their favorite programs and activities at school.
The Bowler Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) held its annual Walkathon fundraiser on Friday, Oct. 22 and raised more than $14,000 in the effort.
Scheduled throughout the school day, each class got to take a 30 minute turn to come out and run or walk around the field of the school.
The PTO leaders in attendance were there to keep track of how many laps each kid took around the quarter-mile route. As each student completed a lap, they would pause briefly to receive a little hash-mark on their wrist from a marker-toting PTO member.
When they completed two laps, they could go get a bottle of water. And before their turn was over, every kid got an Otterpop frozen treat.
Some kids only made it a couple times around and then went off to play on the playground for a bit. Others just kept on running. By noon, the highest number of laps run by any single student was 14: a total of more than three miles.
Each of the students at the school had been encouraged to gather pledges from friends and families for their participation in the race. There were incentives which be could earned for reaching certain levels of fundraising. These included things like keychains and Buccaneer-themed t-shirts and hoodies.
The PTO also received significant donations from local business sponsors in the fundraiser.
All of the funds raised in this annual event go directly back to the local school, said Bowler PTO Treasurer Lissa May.
“This is really our biggest fundraiser each year,” said May. “The businesses in our community have always been very supportive of us and of this Walkathon each year. It has helped us to provide a lot of things for the school that wouldn’t be there otherwise.”
Over the years, these have included technology devices, the school’s Accelerated Reader subscription for each student, incentive programs and rewards for Accelerated Reader, improvements for the school’s P.E. classes and Music instruction, transportation for special field trips, expressions of thanks during Teacher Appreciation Week and more.
The PTO has also helped fund the DREAM program which is a partnership with local Metro for instruction about drug prevention, encouraging mental health, and promoting kindness among students.
May said that she was pleased with the amount of money raised in the event this year. She said that the Walkathon event had suffered last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The PTO was forced to move the event off campus last year because of health restrictions. This along with the hybrid scheduling, caused a much lower participation in the event, she said.
“But we are back again this year in full force and doing great,” May said. “We are so grateful to our families and our community for making it a success!”
