Girls on the Run, or GOTR for short, is a non profit organization that was establish in North Carolina in 1996. The mission of GOTR is to,"inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and
confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates
running". The program is run by volunteers, such as my self and my fellow group members of CIS 122, who go through daily lessons that teach the girls to think confidently and to believe that they are capable of accomplishing anything they set their mind to. Once the lesson is complete, the girls incorporate what they learned in the lesson into the running exercise they are to complete after. Running is a big part of this organization because it establishes the girls to live healthy lifestyles and at the end of the GOTR season, a 5k is held.I am really excited to get involved with the GOTR organization because I think that ensuring girls of a young age that they do have worth is very important. I'm also excited because of the running environment is familiar to me and will make me feel more at ease while I get to know the girls I am working with.
My group and I will be working at the Seton school with 3rd to 8th grade girls. Last week we went to orientation where we received our lesson book and t-shirt that we will be wearing when we attend. We were supposed to start our volunteering last week, but to our dismay, there was additional training that we heard about last minute that we were required to attend before volunteering. There are different opportunities volunteering at GOTR, such as being a coach or running buddy, and our group will be running buddies with the girls. Our job is to encourage the girls as they go through their exercise and we will also be able to give a part of the lesson.
I am hoping that through these lessons, I will be able to absorb information that I can not only apply to myself but also apply to people around me who are not involved in the organization. In today's society, it's important that young teenagers focus on establishing a good self esteem where they have confidence in themselves to accomplish whatever goal they need to.
After having actually served a few times now, how has your view of GOTR changed? Has it opened your eyes to any issues? Do you think more programs like this could start a chain reaction of positive self-esteem?
ReplyDeleteAfter having served a couple of times, my view of GOTR has changed just because I know realize how big of an impact this program has on young girl. I definitely think that if there were more organizations like this on, younger girls self-esteem would be a lot more positive, which they would then be able to carry on into adulthood. This would lead to more and more woman having an overall better self-esteem. One issue the program brought to my attention is schools having inadequate after school programs. In our particular group there is a girl named Gracyn who has a disease that makes her bones very fragile and will eventually put her into a wheel chair. Even with this condition, Gracyn participates in Girls on the Run because her father works and her mother has recently passed, therefore there is no one to watch her after school. Though she much enjoys the program, she is very limited to the physical activity and always has to walk. I think that schools need to be more wary of situations like this and create after school programs that can be beneficial to these type of children an allow them to be more involved. Though Gracyn loves the time she spends at GOTR, I would imagine how much more fun she would have in a program she could really participate in.
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