Past projects 41
Shorts for Sure!
Funded Nov 15, 2021Thank you so much for your kindness!
We are very happy that all of our runners have access to shorts now. It for sure has helped them run a faster time at races. Before, some of our boys would run in sweatpants and one would even run in jeans. That would slow them down by a lot. Furthermore, it restricts the range their legs can move, thereby decreasing the length of their stride. With shorts, they don't have to worry about that anymore. Their legs can have the full range of motion. They don't to carry any unnecessary mass, especially when it's raining.
Thank you again for your donation!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Kotung
This classroom project was brought to life by DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation - Sports Matter and one other donor.Time to Run!
Funded Nov 17, 2021Thank you for your kindess!
We've been able to give stopwatches to the students who are unable to obtain one on their own. We've been using them for multiple purposes. One, we've been using them in races where we don't receive an electronic timing chip. Our runners would time themselves and then I would record it. Then I will calculate their mile pace for them.
Another way we've been using the watches is for the students to check if they are meeting their splits during our speed training sessions. Most recently, our runners ran 380m repeats for a total of 6 rounds. Our runners would time themselves. Then they would look at the clipboards at the finish line to see what their mile pace was. This makes practice more meaningful! It gives our runners more ownership of their training.
Thank you again for your kindness!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Kotung
This classroom project was brought to life by DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation - Sports Matter and one other donor.On your marks, get set, run!
Funded Sep 8, 2021Thank you so much for your kindness!
We've been able to give stopwatches to the students who are unable to obtain one on their own. We've been using them for multiple purposes. One, we've been using them in races where we don't receive an electronic timing chip. Our runners would time themselves and then I would record it. Then I will calculate their mile pace for them.
Another way we've been using the watches is for the students to check if they are meeting their splits during our speed training sessions. Most recently, our runners ran 380m repeats for a total of 6 rounds. Our runners would time themselves. Then they would look at the clipboards at the finish line to see what their mile pace was. This makes practice more meaningful! It gives our runners more ownership of their training.
Thank you again for your kindness!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Kotung
This classroom project was brought to life by Salesforce and one other donor.We Love Running!
Funded Sep 28, 2021Thank you for your generosity!
The balaclavas have been helping with dealing with the cold during our winter months of training. We usually train at two areas during the wintertime. One is the park and the elevation change throughout it causes it to be pretty windy there most of the time, so it feels even colder than normal.
The second area is a park right by the water, which you can imagine is pretty windy there too. We've been going to this one more in the winter because in addition to running routes by the water, the park also has a turf field that is better cushion for running and we're taking advantage of the fact that the turf field is unoccupied by soccer and softball players during this time of the year. The turf is especially helpful during our speed training sessions.
The wet bags have definitely helped in times, even where there is no rain. We use the bags at every practice to hold onto student cellphones so they're all in one safe spot and the bag stays with me personally the entire time.
Thank you again!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Kotung
This classroom project was brought to life by #TeachHealthy with Nature Made and 2 other donors.GPS "Watch" Us Run!
Funded Nov 23, 2020Thank you for your donation!
The GPS watches have come in handy during our training. Starting in mid-April, for the first time all year, with new guidelines on school closures, we haven't had any interrupted training. We've been using the GPS watches for long runs and interval training.
For long runs, it helps our kids mentally, especially our new runners. The simple fact of seeing the distance on the watch increasing as they run more motivates them to keep going. We keep track of how many miles every student runs, and the watch definitely makes them want to keep running instead of stopping.
For interval training, the watches need to be shared. While others have to do it the old school way by them timing themselves if they have a stopwatch and checking a chart we generated for them to see their pace, the GPS watches have allowed for a few of our runners to check their pace live while running. This is especially helpful for newer runners who have yet developed the ability to estimate their pace on their own through experience.
All in all, the GPS watches have been useful and will continue to be as running returns more back to normal! Thank you again for your kindness and generosity!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Kotung
This classroom project was brought to life by Arman Roy Foundation and one other donor.Happy Hurdling!
Funded Oct 3, 2018Thank you for your donation! Due to time constraints during practices, unfortunately, we've only been able to use the hurdles a handful of times since we've received them, which was spread out sporadically throughout the months. It's something that I didn't expect to happen and wish that I took pictures during those few times of them using the hurdles to meet the thank you package deadline.
In order for something to have a significant impact on kids, it must be consistent. Since it's not consistent, I can't have kids write honest letters about how the hurdles have impacted them.
What I can do is describe how I've used them during those handful of times and how I plan to use them in the future. I've used the hurdles at the end of a few practices to build leg strength. To make it more fun, we would have relay races where the first half would be an agility ladder while the second half would be high-kneeing past the hurdles. Another way I've used them is for a circuit training workout. One part of the workout would be using 2 legs to frog-jump over the hurdles forward, backwards, and sideways.
It's been tougher than anticipated using the hurdles during practice because we are limited by time. For the vast majority of practices, by the time the running portion of practice is over, we have to already head back to school. What I think may work in the future is to give kids who finish their running part of practice early a bag of self-improvement tools to use, such as a jump-rope, medicine ball, hurdles, etc. They can use those tools to get stronger on their own while waiting for the rest of the team to finish. In addition, I think that in September when new runners join the team, the hurdles can be used to team them proper technique for high knee drills because sometimes they don't bring their knees high enough.
Sorry about this and I hope you will understand. Thank you again for your resources and I hope that we will be able to use them consistently in the future.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Kotung
And the Oscar Goes to...
Funded Mar 27, 2018Thank you once again for your donated trophies! Our 8th graders were extremely excited to receive them. Whenever they look at it in the future, it will be a reminder of the hard work that they put into running.
Running is a tough sport because it demands both physical and mental strength. The trophies our graduating 8th graders received symbolize the totality of all their accomplishments while on the team, which range from as small as pushing through stomach cramps to large ones such as surviving the annual half marathon race that we attend.
A few of our 8th grade female runners graduated to a high school that didn't have a cross country team for many years because the school couldn't get enough interested runners. I'm happy to say that our female runners were able to help that school form their first female cross country team in years! Our 8th graders are doing good things in high school and thank you for being a part of their journey as the trophies bring to an end one part of their lives but also opens another.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Kotung
This classroom project was brought to life by Ripple and one other donor.Time to Run!
Funded Nov 21, 2017Thank you so much for your donation! We are putting the stopwatches to great use! It's always good when students know that each of them will have a stopwatch to use for their workout.
An example of us using stopwatches would be our most recent workout. Our newer runners and those who haven't come did a progressive long run. They ran/walked for 3 miles with each mile getting progressively faster . The used a stopwatch to time every mile. Our runners training for a 6.2 mile race did a speed workout with 4 rounds o f 1 mile. Each round was hard. That group used stopwatches to time their miles to see how consistent their times were and they also used it to time their rest. For our group that was focusing on the mile race, they ran 10 rounds of 200m. They used the stopwatches to time their 200m and rest as well.
We will continue to use these stopwatches for all our training sessions. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of our runners!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Kotung
This classroom project was brought to life by J.Crew.Running in the Rain!
Funded Dec 28, 2016Thank you so much for your donation! One thing about our team is that we try our best to run in all types of weather. We used to run in light rain but with heavy rain, it was a hindrance. With your donated rain ponchos, now we can run in the heaviest of rainfalls! The pictures that I posted may not show it, but the kids were running in heavy rain. On top of that, it was very windy, so our runners felt colder than normal and the rain was hitting their faces.
We teach our runners that doing difficult things make you tougher, and running in heavy rain is does make them tougher. It truly teaches them that weather elements, such as rain, snow, and the cold, are simply things that cause one to be uncomfortable. If you can embrace the challenge of being uncomfortable, then you can conquer many challenges.
Thank you once again for your kindness and donation. Our runners will continue to use these ponchos and it's all due to you.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Kotung
This classroom project was brought to life by DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation - Sports Matter and 3 other donors.Time to Run!
Funded Nov 15, 2016Thank you so much for the stopwatches. They're making a world of a difference. Now more of our kids have access to use stopwatches during training and races. For example, we have our first and only 4 mile race coming up this weekend. Our runners have been training hard for it to run their fastest time possible. I've created mile splits for each runner based on how their training is going so far and their most recent race performances. Students will write down the splits on their hands and see if they match the time they get at the mile, 2-mile, 3-mile, and finish line mark.
Students time and time again tell me how splits help them be aware of their own pace during a race. It's helping them become better runners and each step during their races become more purposeful as opposed to running blind.
Thank you again for your generosity!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Kotung