How Schools can offer "FUN RUNS"

by Mike Chamberlain, Elementary Physical Education Teacher, Diamond Path Elementary school of International Studies. A PHIT America AMPED School in Apple Valley, MN

Over this past summer, my principal asked if I would be willing to organize and facilitate our school’s Boosterthon Fun Run. Boosterthon is an organization that helps facilitate a school’s fundraiser. When a school uses Boosterthon, they are also agreeing to give a portion of the fundraising efforts back to Boosterthon. So if our school, Diamond Path, decided to take on additional responsibilities, our school would receive a greater portion of our fundraising efforts.

After agreeing, the first thing I needed to determine was how the run was going to be tracked. Boosterthon has teachers and parents, using markers to stop students and make Xs over boxes on each students’ “FUNRUN” shirt. For me, this seemed inefficient. I had already reached out to PHIT America and received a grant for the EZ ScanApp for a Running Club I would use during our physical education classes, as well as, at recess. I felt the EZ Scan App had potential to work for our “FUNRUN”.

It’s Go Time! Here is how I organized it. We had three separate blocks with two grade levels out at a time. Each grade level has about 120 students. One grade would be completing “FUNRUN” and the other grade level would begin on our 15 Fall Field Day Stations, with their Field Day Card. While running, the EZ Scan App gives you the ability to create courses to determine distance and create safety measures to be sure students don’t have their QR Code scanned multiple times before completing a lap. I set mine to 15 seconds, which meant that a student had to wait 15 seconds before scanning again.

The event could not have gone better! Parents, teachers, and admin were raving about the EZ Scan App. They loved how simple it was to use, and how fast they could track students' laps. At the end of each session, they clicked “Sync” and their laps were uploaded to my profile.

After the eventI went in and broke down the data. I did find that some students' laps were not tracked, so I went in and manually adjusted their laps to their class average. I rolled the dice on the EZ Scan App and had no idea if it was going to handle 20-40 parents using the app at the same time, but it did and it worked so well.

I first looked into creating QR Codes for each student. Then, I gave each teacher their classes to slide into the lunch lanyards the students already wear each day. Initially, I looked into getting 10-15 iPads to be ready with the EZ Scan App for parent volunteers to use, but realized the internet would not work outside. So, I asked all my parent volunteers (close to 200) to download the app and use my username/password. Diamond Path will certainly use the EZ ScanApp for our next “FUNRUN!”

If you are interested in starting a running club and have a “FUNRUN” to plan, you should consider using the EZ Scan app from PHIT America. It is quick, effective, and easy to use. You can use the EZ Scan app for a running club, your everyday physical education classes, or like I did, for a school “FUNRUN” fundraiser.

Has your school signed up for one of PHIT America’s physical activity programs? If not, learn more about our physical education programs which will get your students physically active and they’ll also have fun participating in the different programs. PHIT America invites your school to apply for a grand and get signed up for PLAY TENNIS, PLAY GOLF, PLAY PICKLEBALL, or AMPED, making running and fitness fun.

If you would like to donate to PHIT America, with just $5 you can get a kid playing.

go to PHITKids.org.