By Heather Lusk
For the fifth year in a row, students from every elementary school in Zionsville will spend a day running laps to raise money for their PTO.
The annual Jog-a-Thon, held simultaneously at each school on Sept. 30, will also introduce preschoolers to the event as several schools have added classes for children as young as three.
“It’s a great way to include them in this fitness activity,” said Tricia Benner, fundraising chair and Jog-a-Thon co-chair for Stonegate Elementary’s PTO.
“We’re exposing parents to this fundraising event early on,” she said.
Despite their young age, Benner isn’t concerned that the preschoolers won’t be able to keep up with the older students.
“They have more energy than the fourth graders,” she said.
At the other end of the spectrum, for the first time this year the fourth graders in each school will finally be able to boast that they own the entire rainbow of shirts, from the orange one assigned to every kindergartener to the blue shirt assigned to fourth graders.
“It’s cool,” said Stonegate fourth grader Madeline Kaltenmark of owning every shade of grade school shirts and whose mother has saved the shirt each year as a memento. Madeline finds Jog-a-Thon day to be “exciting” and “fun.”
Last year the Stonegate students ran 6,364 laps, which translates to 1,591 miles. The PTO illustrated this to the students by asking them how far they thought they could go – which turned out to be from Zionsville almost to the Grand Canyon.
This year Stonegate’s fundraising leaders have promoted it as the “Greatest spectacle in fundraising” and are rousing students with race car themed stickers and bulletin boards promoting the event.
Stonegate’s goal is about participation rather than which student raised the most money. The classrooms with high participation rates will win a special opportunity. One class from each grade will be able to choose a spirit day, such as pajama day, crazy hair day or backwards day. A cafeteria bulletin board with a picture of each teacher in a race car will move forward when a student brings in a donation so that they can see how close their class is to winning. “We wanted to make it visual,” said Benner.
Kerry Albin, Stonegate’s Jog-a-Thon co-chair, and Benner hope that the focus on participation rates will encourage students to bring in even a small donation. “There’s no amount that’s too small to give to help provide these things for the school,” said Albin.
“They’re raising the money for the classroom, so they can go on field trips…” Benner said. “We try to get really specific with the kids.”
She wants them to realize that their fundraising can make a difference in the classroom and contributes to unique opportunities like shark dissection for third graders, classroom technology and unique opportunities.
There is still an incentive for the students to raise money: the class raising the highest dollar amount for the school will win the opportunity to spray the principal, vice-principal and their teacher with silly string.
Stonegate annually raises nearly $20,000 through the Jog-a-Thon, allowing the PTO to provide iPads to each class last year. Benner reminded the students how their hard work was used during a lunchtime kickoff celebration.
Stonegate and other schools’ PTO also offer an electronic donation option so that family members out of town can contribute.
Students are encouraged to ask parents, family, friends and neighbors for donations – whether in a lump sum or on a per lap basis. Roughly half of the proceeds school-wide come from sponsors, the majority of which have been longtime supporters. The top tier of sponsors – Martine Dentistry, Mobi and Zionsville Pediatric Dentistry – have been with Jog-a-Thon since its inception.
A huge number of parent volunteers are needed to help count laps, distribute water bottles, assist with warm ups before the jogging begins, play music and keep the kids enthusiastic during their hour-long jog.
“We have fantastic parent volunteers that help with the event,” said Benner. “It’s fun to see the parents here encouraging the kids around the course.”
By the numbers – Jog-a-thon 2014
- 2,549 – Students participated
- 41,394 – Laps run
- 10,008 – Approximate number of miles run
- $100,000 – Funds raised
