When Missoula's Russell Elementary School fifth-graders made it to the virtual Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday afternoon, their classmates cried “Fifth grade rocks!”
After months of running in health education class, the fifth-graders racked up enough turns around Playfair Park's track to equal 3,200 miles. In the process, they learned about the landmarks and features of 15 states in their cross-country educational odyssey.
Russell health ed teacher Vicki Stasso had her fifth- and fourth-grade students start every health class with a couple of laps before shifting to another pursuit.
In addition to the laps, which all students did during health class, some more dedicated runners put in roadwork on weekends and evenings. Those miles also counted toward the total.
The cross-country idea came from a late-night conversation Vicki's 11-year-old daughter Ashlin had with her father, Paul, about how to get kids in better shape. Together, they cooked up the idea of a virtual cross-country run. Vicki Stasso added it to the health ed program, and Paul designed a Web site chronicling the students' progress.
The target pace would have had the students at 2,660 miles by the end of last week. Instead, they spurted ahead to 3,049 by last Thursday. And when Vicki Stasso rechecked her math on Monday, she realized the finish line at Lewes, Del., was just 20 miles away.
So when Stasso stepped into teacher Mike Creighton's room to announce the finish line was in sight, the first response was “What?”
Then came the “oh yeahs” and fist pumping. Creighton's class rushed the door, only to be held back by the rest of Russell School. All the other grades were heading out to the track to form a cheering section.
Since September, Stasso worked with other teachers in the building to turn the mileage into classroom lessons. Landmarks the students passed on the route became history and geography workshops. Creighton and fellow fifth-grade teacher Joan Kuchel also took to adding afternoon walks to their regular teaching day.
“On nice days, we'd go for a lap around the track,” Creighton said. “When they come back, they're calm. It gets rid of their lunch and they're ready to work.”
Kuchel added that the fifth grade has really felt the competition with Russell's fourth-graders, who are also running the cross-country route. The younger kids are a few days behind their schoolmates, but have been a regular goad to keep the older ones adding miles to the tally, she said.
The project has also attracted interest from other schools around the nation. The Stassos said they've talked with many teachers about how to adapt the health/classroom aspects to other parts of the country and other age groups.
Vicki Stasso isn't certain how many students may have taken up running as a personal exercise habit because of the project. But Creighton said one boy in his class with serious asthma has doubled his walking endurance over the school year, while several others have had noticeable weight loss.
Many of the kids have worked the project into their own summer vacation plans. Reilly Holland said she plans to visit Oregon to see the mountainous part of the trip. Beau McCue was headed for Delaware for a look at the real Atlantic Ocean.
That's left Paul Stasso with a major bet to pay off. An endurance runner, as well as the www.seeusrun.com Web site designer, Paul challenged the students that if they could cross the nation by the end of school, he would run the route for real.
On Tuesday, Paul Stasso brought the converted baby stroller that he'll use to push 50 pounds of gear for the run. It has a sheet of solar batteries to charge his cell phone, Global Position System and digital camera as he travels. The plan is to notch 35 miles a day for 90 days, between June 23 and Sept. 27.
“Because no class had ever done this before, I didn't know if they could actually pull it off,” he said. “But when December came and it was zero degrees out and they were still running, I knew I was in trouble.”
If you're interested
Check out Russell Elementary School's cross-country virtual run on the Internet at http://www.seeusrun.com
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