BROOKINGS Strengthening hearts, minds, and bodies thats the goal of Girls on the Run, an after-school program for third through fifth grade girls offered this fall at Hillcrest Elementary, Camelot Intermediate and Sioux Valley Elementary schools.
Throughout a season we focus on building social, emotional, and physical skills, Jasmina Miller, program manager for Girls on the Run said. We recognize the important connections between the mind and the body, so we create these critical life skills through fun and interactive running games. However, just because theres running in our program title, does not mean you have to be a runner for the girls to participate.
The program is designed to instill healthy habits, teach leadership skills, and help girls establish solid friendships.
The girls learn how to build confidence, how to recognize and identify their emotions, how to be a good friend, and then how do you use your unique talents to give back to your community and world, Miller said. We focus more on the movement, no matter how that may look.
Coaches combine social learning activities with physical exercise.
We do an activity about running from one cone to the next cone, and how your heart kind of speeds up, Miller said. Thats what its like to be in an intense emotion. When were in an intense emotion, it can be hard to kind of act in the way that you would hope to act. So then we learn about stop and take a breather. We take five deep breaths, we think about the responses that we can do, and then we review them which ones the best for us, and then we act on that.
The program is part of a nationwide non-profit that first came to South Dakota in 2006 at the Sioux Falls schools. This fall, 24 schools throughout the state will offer sessions.
And we have two seasons as well. We have a fall which we are stepping up to be in now and then a spring season, Miller said. We also have other Brookings sites that participate in our spring, but typically a school will participate in the spring or fall.
This fall, the program will run after-school on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Hillcrest Elementary and Camelot Intermediate schools. In Volga, the sessions will be on Mondays and Wednesdays. Registration is now open, with the cost varying based on location.
Each sites a little different depending on funding. But we are very fortunate to be a part of Brookings United Way, so we are able to reduce our cost, Miller said. But if the registration fee is still too high for families, we have scholarships available and also an income-based sliding fee scale built into our online registration. So no matter someones ability to pay, we still want them to participate in the program just reach out if theres any concern.
Registration is available at https://www.embe.org/program/gotr. Theyre also seeking volunteers to help coach the sessions.
Coach commitment is once a week for the eight-week season, Miller said. Any new coaches will complete a new coach training with us, just to learn more about the program and how to facilitate our lessons. They will receive a curriculum book along with all the materials they need for the entire season. So if anyones interested, they can also reach out my contact information is on our website.
She said its rewarding for coaches to see the emotional, social, and physical growth the girls undergo.
Thats always something special to see them in the moment, taking what they learned from practice and putting it in their daily lives, Miller said. It is something very special to see first-hand.
Email Jay Roe at[email protected].
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