Students from Roehm Middle School in Berea have been practicing long and hard for the Dash for Dignity, a 5K run they helped organize. The event is the culmination of a project that began when the school received a Berea Education Foundation Enrichment grant presented by Roehm staff members Amanda Prok, Melissa Meyer, Bridget Butzier and Lynn Sperli. A continuation of the school’s anti-bullying project from last year, the project involves seventh- and eighth-graders reading “The Running Dream,” which is the story of a girl who loses a leg in a tragic car accident, but fights to run again and lead a fulfilling life.
The project aims to give students the necessary tools to lead healthy physical, mental and emotional lives. It incorporates an interdisciplinary approach, including healthy living and lifestyle choices with students keeping food journals, using pedometers to track their physical progress, applying math to graph that progress, creating brochures and commercials in language arts class, and designing logos in art class.
Melissa Meyer, a math teacher involved with the project, said, “This is a well-rounded project. We have found that students need a healthy incentive in their lives. Their families are joining us in this project. They have been very receptive. We invited the entire community to be part of it.”
Matthew Huskey, an eighth-grader at the school, said, “I try to get three workouts a week. It’s important to me. We have been working hard and reading a book that makes you understand you can do anything in life if you put your mind to it.”
The registration fee through April 29 is $20 for the run and $15 for the walk. After Sunday, add $5 to both. Proceeds from the event will go to Eleanore Rocks, a local foundation that gives rocking chairs and parking monies to families whose babies are terminally ill in hospitals’ neonatal intensive care units, as well as to Chardon High School.
