Sonrise supporters walk laps for funds

Students, parents, and teachers hit the track on Friday, April 29, in the annual Sonrise Christian School Walk/Jog-A-Thon.

Runners wore bright red T-shirts designed by seventh-grader Seth Schneider in a contest earlier this spring. The logo read, “Let My People Run!”

The running course was full of children from preschoolers running, walking, and tumbling around the field, to middle school students competing with their own jogging records from the previous year. And a virtual army of parent volunteers worked to pull off this fundraiser.

In the weeks leading up to this fund-raising event, students collected pledges for one-time donations or per-lap amounts. Each lap was 1/8-mile and most students ran at least three miles in the one-hour time limit, while many ran four or five miles. Fifth-grader Tyler Marks ran six miles and seventh-graders Ben Bremer, Torrey Piatt, and Seth Schneider ran 6.75, 6.75 and 7.75 miles respectively.

The proceeds from the event are used for classroom activity funds, scholarship funds and for eighth-grade field trips. Last year students raised a total of about $17,000 and the estimate for this year is over $20,000.