Latest News Local News Taft Middle School Students Have a Reason to Run
Taft Middle School Students Have a Reason to Run
More than 100 students have signed up to train for the Oklahoma City Memorial 5K and half marathon with their teachers and principal.
They run in snow boots, flats, socks, Converse sneakers, jeans, flannel shirts — whatever they have with them that's best — and big, huge smiles.
Even the "I'm-too-cool-for-this" 13-year-olds at Taft Middle School can't help themselves but smile when Principal Lisa Johnson's voice interrupts Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" over the loud speaker and announces it's time to run again.
The girls giggle and start jogging through the halls.
A lanky boy darts by in a red shirt and unlaced Air Jordans. His head is up and his arms pumping as he gains speed down the corridor.
It's the second day of the voluntary Couch to 5k training at Taft Middle School, 2901 NW 23, and spirits are high.
(PICTURE: Cassandra Perez is one of the students at Taft Middle School who run through the school's halls twice a week to train for the Oklahoma City Memorial 5k.)
Johnson and Ellen Cooper, a seventh-grade teacher, made a deal with students that if they trained for the Oklahoma City Memorial 5k, the school would pay the $40 entry fee for the event on May 1.
Much to their delight and dismay, more than 100 students signed up for the twice-a-week after-school training, outstripping the $4,000 grant the two had acquired to pay for the registrations.
"I thought if I could just get them down there on race day, the atmosphere, the excitement, they'd be hooked," Johnson said in her office after running in place for a half-hour by the school's sound system.
"We have a 98 percent free- and reduced-lunch rate. This is the one sport that they could take through the rest of their lives."
Oklahoma ranks 17th in the nation for the highest percentage of childhood obesity, about 16.4 percent of children 10 to 17 years old are considered obese, according to the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health.
Johnson said her goal is to transform her student's "mind, body and spirit."
An initiative with Eat Wise Oklahoma City is raising funds to revamp the Taft cafeteria to a kitchen fully capable of serving home- prepared meals with whole grains and fewer trans-saturated fats.
James Wilburn, 13, heard about the 5k challenge and is taking it to the next level training for the memorial half marathon.
"I got inspired by my little sister," James said. "She started running and I saw how good she was, and I thought maybe I could be better."
James runs outside with Northwest Classen High School teacher J.W. Gwartney who is volunteering to help a handful of students get ready for the half marathon distance of 13.1 miles.
"It was actually kind of hard," James said. "It's just a sport where you have got to have heart."
James made a deal with his family that if he is able to run 10 miles without stopping before the time race-registration closes, his mother, father and sister will register for the race, too.
Sitting on the steps at Taft after his workout, James said he wanted to thank Johnson and Cooper.
"It's really inspired me and made me want to achieve something and improve my life," James said.
Before Friday the farthest he had run was about 400 meters.
Johnson said she would love for members of the community to sponsor some of her runners, not just by paying for their entry fee, but by coming to the after-school runs and training with a student, getting to know them a little bit and helping them stay motivated for the race.
"Everybody wants to talk about what's going on in city schools," Johnson said. "But how many can say they have actually spent time with a city kid?"
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