New After-School Club is Up & “Running”

Positive Tomorrows recently launched its first Girls on the Run club. Girls on the Run is an after-school program designed to inspire girls of all abilities to recognize and embrace their individual strengths and celebrate connections with others. The program inspires 3rd through 5th grade girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively blends physical activity with skill development.

The group is founded and coached by Positive Tomorrows Transition Coordinator, Tesica Starkey and Family Support Coordinator, Rachel Brown. “I participated in the program as a 5th grader and made friends that I still have to this day,” said Brown. “It benefitted me socially and emotionally as a young kid so when I heard about doing it at Positive Tomorrows, I knew it was something the girls would enjoy. Any opportunity we can provide for our students to connect with one another on a deeper and more relatable level is important.”

Over the course of the 10-week program, the girls will develop life skills knows as the 5Cs + 1: confidence, competence, caring, connection and character + contribution.

Before their first practice, the girls had a chance to visit Red Coyote Running and Fitness where each girl was fitted for a new pair of shoes.

At the end of the program, girls will celebrate with other Girls on The Run clubs across central Oklahoma in a commemorative 5K honoring their hard work.

Later, they’ll join the rest of our students to complete a school-wide 5K event, which was designed to provide a tangible sense of accomplishment for our students, setting a confident and goal-oriented mindset into motion.

The initiative was made possible by the Oklahoma City Community Foundation’s OKCGetsFit Grant.