ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt. (WCAX) – Girls on the Run Vermont, a nonprofit organization, uses a research and physical activity-based curriculum to inspire girls in 3rd through 8th grade to empower, inspire and help boost each other’s confidence.
“I think what we really want to put out there is that girls have limitless potential,” Christine Beall of Girls on the Run Vermont said.
Saturday morning was the first of two 5k events to close out the organization’s 25th anniversary.
“Everyone is so excited to be here. Higher energy levels, everyone’s supportive of one another and then you get out and you run, you walk, you jump, hop, whatever you want to do you move in some way across the finish line and it’s amazing. It’s a great community of people really,” 17-year-old Cordelia King said.
The 5k event brought together hundreds of girls, coaches, and running buddies from across northern Vermont.
“The joy, the absolute pure magic that you see with the girls with the volunteers, with the coaches, with the families with the supporters, the smiles and they are completing something. They are fulfilling a goal,” Girls on the Run Vermont Executive Director Rachel Desautels said.
Since 1999, Girls on the run Vermont has empowered approximately 38,000 girls across 110 sites throughout the state through the 10-week after-school program.
“It’s a social, emotional and political development of all these girls. So honestly giving back to the community to a community impact project during the season so it comes full circle it’s just such a joyful moment for these girls to really feel the sense of pride and being a part of this program for two and a half months,” Desautels said.
They collectively celebrated each other’s achievements while also seeing the results of their hard work throughout the season. Christine Beall says she wants create a world where girls could be anything they dream of.
“We are in a world that really like we’re starting to get the same kinds of rights and privileges and it just we need to keep pushing for girls to know that they can do absolutely anything,” she said.
“Every young population needs support and needs help, but we’ve actually really seen there’s research showing girls are really in a place where they need a lot of strength. They need a lot of help with some of the stuff that kids go through,” Beall said.
At the 5k celebration, there were 1200 girls, 400 coaches, about 100 running buddies and hundreds of spectators.