By

Jean Erickson,   Lincoln Elementary School

Play:

Topics:

Community Involvement,  Teamwork

 We used the Blue Cross's Mayors Walking Challenge in October as an opportunity to boost our FUTP 60 Pacers Program. The efforts paid off, as we received one of the $500 checks. We are putting that amount with some of our FUTP 60 grant money to purchase a Gaga pit for our playground. The success of this challenge made us rethink some of the rewards we were currently doing for our Pacers program. Instead of just rewarding the students, we are on target for making it to the end of the year party. We do special Pacer prize days where everyone who goes a mile earns the reward. Making this simple change has boosted our overall participation and our overall miles. Now it gives all students the equal chance to earn rewards along the way and gets more of them running/walking laps at school during recess.

What improvements have you seen at your school?

As stated above, our overall participation in Pacers has increased, which naturally boosts our overall miles for the school. Awesome!

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

It was a learning curve for our new intern to figure out our stridetrack system. We took it all in stride, and being honest was more important than the bigger numbers. Our hard work paid off, though, and we were still one of the top schools to receive the check.