Moorestown’s three lower-elementary schools – South Valley, Roberts and Baker – and the Upper Elementary School (UES) will host the school district’s nine-day Boosterthon Fun Run beginning Tuesday.
Proceeds will support the Moorestown Home and School Association and its events and activities.
“It’s a fun run program that promotes fitness, teamwork and character,” said Caty Berman, Boosterthon district chair. “It culminates in a fun run event for all of the students, and throughout the period that that organization (Booster) is at our schools, we try to get donations from families …”
According to choosebooster.com, a Booster program consists of four main parts: kickoff day, daily announcements, event day and collection. The school district’s kickoff on March 6 starts the program off strong by rallying students to gather donations and work together.
“Each school has a Boosterthon captain who spends time in the schools every day throughout the event,” Berman said, explaining how students watched videos that promote teamwork and character traits on kickoff day.
“ … During the lunches, the Boosterthon captain is at the lunch periods and they’re getting the kids excited …” she added. “They do cheers and chants. They’re trying to promote these character traits to the kids and get them excited about the fun run event, and then also in the process, fundraising for our Home and School organization.”
According to the association’s website, during fun run day, students will participate in multiple laps of themed running, walking and dancing led by the Booster team for 35 minutes of physical activity. Students can share their donation page to get donations from friends and family for every one of those minutes of activity.
Once a donation is made, sponsors can see if their corporation has a donation matching program to maximize the donors’ generosity. Dr. Michele Hassall, assistant principal at Upper Elementary, explained how fun run day will work at the school.
“We will have here at the UES three different runs, one for each grade level, and every child – regardless of the amount he or she fundraised – is invited to join in the fun run,” Hassall noted.
“Everybody gets a T-shirt to be part of the group, and our sixth graders are the last to go, and they get a super special color run.”
According to the Home and School website, the nonprofit’s goal is to raise $60,000 as a district. Berman explained that although the township’s middle and high schools aren’t participating in the program, the funds raised benefit all schools within the district. Previous events have helped fund new playground equipment; iPad carts; and library furniture, among other ventures.
“It’s a much more successful way to raise funds for Home and School than some of the smaller fundraising events that we typically were doing in the past,” Berman pointed out. “And in order to keep doing some of the things that we’ve been doing with this money, I think if we can continue doing this program, I think it benefits everybody in the district.”
To register your child/children for the Moorestown School District Boosterthon Fun Run, visit https://mybooster.com/v3.
For more information on the Fun Run, visit https://sites.google.com/moorestownhsa.org/moorestown-home-school/home?authuser=0.
“It’s nice to see the kids get excited and work as a team,” Hassall observed. “They support each other, they enjoy doing this together, they celebrate completing another lap with their friends, and it really does stress character traits and citizenship that we want for our students.”
