Kick Off Your School Year with a 100-Mile Goal
As an educator, starting a school year is exciting and full of endless possibilities for your students and yourself.
- How will this year be different?
- How will it be better?
- How can I connect with my students?
- How can I make a difference?
Kara Lubin, a 4th generation public school teacher, asked herself that question in 1992, and with some inspiration from that year’s summer Olympic Games, she found the answer. The first day of school, Kara took her students to the playground and told them this.
Good morning! Welcome to a new and exciting school year! This year, you are going to run 100 miles. When you do, you will earn a gold medal. We are going to do this together, and we’re starting today. Let’s go!
She called it 100 Mile Club®.
That year her students all reached their goals, and their lives were changed forever. Stated one student, “If I can run 100 miles, I can do anything.”
Today, 100 Mile Club is a global nonprofit organization serving over 2,500 schools and 750,000 students annually, and their mission is unchanged.
100 Mile Club presents students with a straightforward challenge: run, walk, or roll 100 miles over the course of the school year.
Since that day in 1992, 100 Mile Club has been a school-based program leading the effort in the prevention of childhood inactivity and obesity across the nation. The award-winning 100 Mile Club program improves the health and well-being of children at school through daily physical activity in a noncompetitive, supportive, and fully-inclusive environment.
The 100 Mile Club is much more than just a running program. Improving student readiness to learn; increasing student, family, and community engagement; and creating a true team spirit that transforms school culture are at the core of this transformative program.
The 2019-20 school year will be the 100 Mile Club’s 27th year helping schools create Healthy, Happy, and Connected Kids® . . . one mile at time, and is bigger, better, bolder, and brighter than ever.
100 Mile Club is standards-based, highly adaptable to the resources and needs of participating schools, and may be implemented in many different contexts throughout the school day. Students may accumulate miles during PE, during school hours, at lunch and recess, and before or after school hours.
Making the program unique are life lessons in goal-setting, determination, and team spirit delivered alongside meaningful daily physical activity. Rather than compete against each other, students at participating schools are members of the 100 Mile Club Team, where every student has the opportunity to be successful. Whether they run, jog, roll, or walk toward their personal goal, 100 Mile Club inspires students of all abilities to be active in an accepting, positive, and inclusive environment.
Because students of all grades and ages can participate, 100 Mile Club creates a powerful bond among students participating within the same school, and also creates a link to 100 Milers at neighboring schools, within communities, and across the nation.
All a school needs is a place to walk or run, indoors or out, a chart for tracking laps, a willing and enthusiastic coach or teacher, and students ready to move!
About 100 Mile Club
100 Mile Club is a school-based solution that addresses the epidemic of childhood inactivity and obesity without increasing teacher overall workload. Over time, the program reduces the stresses associated with unfocused students, increasing attendance and improving school readiness to learn. The program also provides life skills that are easily transferred into the classroom and school. Increased attendance is one indication of the program’s positive affect on the entire culture of a school.
There are four program options to meet the needs of any school, any budget, anywhere, at any time. Starting with the FREE Start Line program, there is something for everyone. For more information about 100 Mile Club, visit 100mileclub.com or call 951-340-2290.
