I think this must be my third / fourth year of Girls on the Run– it’s funny how time flies and a routine you get used to seems to be a tradition automatically. In this case, Girls on the Run has taken us to Dover and to Georgetown so May times – over the years it just has become a tradition. What us amazing is the vast number of individuals we have had willing to sacrifice their weekend for other young runners.

You would think it would become boring or feel the same year after year and yet, I realized, every time we meet up with other young runners from Phillis Wheatley, matched with a running buddy from the high school, it is different. EVERY single time. Different runners of course, but some the same, different style of running, level so fo motivation to finish and just different every single time. That matched with the positivity that you simply feel surrounded by so many. I cannot remember the countless times, including today, where I paused and found someone I chatted with I never met, boy or girl, and we encouraged another to compete with themselves to support others. That rolls over and connects with what we try to encourage in Cross Country, as well as in life.

The students, both boys and girls, that come out for Girls on the Run have been nothing short of inspiring every single time. I think it is awesome to see young girls being encouraged by their mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, students in high schools, middle schools, brothers, and sisters to complete something that might be slightly out of reach in their minds – and yet – the reality when you finish is that NOTHING is impossible when you find a pack of people that believe in you. In a day/time/period in our history that can appear so negative, cynical, and demanding on social media, real life that doesn’t replicate negative and challenges that can be overcome, well simply can be motivating. You feel that in the Girls on the Run Event when you are surrounded with people that simply believe that can do something that seems like a mountain at first. Add numbers, many numbers of individuals that believe in you, that you might not have never met before, with those you have known, and confidence oozes. That truly is the power of Girls on the Run.

Looking beyond Girls on the Run, what can you take away from this event? I started thinking about how powerful our female students are, and then how powerful our male students are when they find ways to encourage each other. From the Girls Who Code Club (They are learning drones,

connecting circuitry, 360 degree camera tours, robotics, and more!)

who are starting to learn some amazing new technology pieces and apply them to improving and adding to their community, to the students who come together to discuss and plan a forum for pushing back against substance abuse from all over the state, represented from many schools, to students rising up to enhance the Festival of Words, to students trekking to advocacy with a message about how their school library, or need for a school library can open doors for them, to attending Senator leadership conferences, to SO MUCH MORE, all are connected. All events involve things that never existed before and students saw a need and created something, to enhancing something that already exists, with the right motivation, youth given a seat at the table more than they have? They can easily change what is possible and what is considered not possible, and turning it around.

Connecting each other and plugging into that power of possibility? Certainly Girls on the Run is a power source for so much more beyond that single day that all participants can keep alive beyond that one day, in discussion, action, and possibility.

For today’s Girls on the Run, we want to thank Ms.Carol Bean, Carrie Townsend, Robinson Nate, Kim Chitty, Coach Marvin Dooley, Coach David Guelph, WHS students Annabella, Aydin, Kaileb, Kayleigh, Natalie, ALL the Phillis Wheatley runners, ALL the runner’s and running buddy’s parents for letting this day be an awesome one. DISCOVER is awesome for always willing to put so much into making this day a possibility for everyone. Thanks for both Del Tech at Georgetown and Dover that make this possible. It gets much more mileage than than the 5k of the day – and that carries more internal possibility and connections to other possibilities, than we can imagine in one day!