They came, they saw, they walked.
Hundreds of elementary students from the Stephen F. Austin State University Charter School descended on William R. Johnson Coliseum early Thursday to fulfill a pledge to walk one mile around the concourse in return for a record-breaking amount of donations.
Andrew Rogers/The Daily Sentinel |
Students in the Stephen F. Austin Charter School participate in the Walk-A-Thon, Thursday morning.
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Andrew Rogers/The Daily Sentinel |
Regan Humphreys, left, and Regan Knott, right, both age 10, wait for the Stephen F. Austin State University Charter School ?Walk-a-Thon? to begin Thursday morning at William R. Johnson Coliseum.
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Dozens of parents, teachers and even SFA's cheerleading squad joined in on the Charter School's first ever 'Walk-a-Thon,' where $13,700 in cash was raised to help pay for the students' transportation for out-of-town study trips, tickets to all of SFA's plays and the upcoming Halloween festival being held at the Charter School's new brand building.
According to the Parent Teacher Organization's fundraising committee chairwoman, Angie Phillips, the original target was merely $10,000, which was surpassed due to the hard work of parents and their children, she said.
"We don't know what else we're going to do with it all, because we've never had this much money," Phillips said on Thursday just before the Walk-a-Thon began. "This is a big celebration for us, and it's good because the kids are getting exercise. We also have about 70 parents signed up to come up and walk with their children. The whole thing has been a great way to involve the community, because that's what our school is really about — building strong communities."
The Walk-a-Thon is the school's only fundraiser for the year. According to Principal Lysa Hagan, the PTO normally only collects around $3,500 each year. But because the school has nearly doubled in size after moving into a new multi-million dollar building this year, Hagan said they needed a boost in fundraising, but she did not expect the donations to pour in like they did. In fact, just hours before the big walk, donations were still coming in.
"Our PTO parents have put a huge amount time into this, and have made so many calls," Hagan said. "And, you know, it's paid off. We are really just amazed."
The mild-paced quest for glory took only eight laps to complete, and within a little over an hour, the students were loading back up into their buses and heading back to class.
Originally scheduled to take place at SFA's football stadium, the event was moved to the coliseum because of the wet weather. However, the basketball arena provided a more intimate setting, complete with the sounds of the 1970s serving as background music, and, of course, the air conditioning was a welcomed luxury.
For Hagan, who had spray painted her hair purple to mark the occasion, the first annual event was as much about raising school spirit as it was about raising money.
"It's really an exciting time, because we've never had anything like this," she said. "Some of the teachers have said how this event has really built a community within our school. All of a sudden, we've exploded in size and have double the number of classrooms at the school. So this has really been a good way to bring everyone together and to meet one another."
