Watson Elementary School students got moving, got colorful and helped raise approximately $11,000 for the school’s Arts in Motion program during the PTA’s first Color Run-A-Thon.
The fundraiser on Oct. 2 was designed as a more inclusive and engaging replacement for the school’s previous Dance-A-Thon, which Hart said typically attracted only about half of the school’s students.
Instead, the PTA wanted to create an event that would appeal to more students, with a colorful obstacle course featuring six different stations. The activities included basketball, yoga, exercises, balance challenges and games.
“It was a little bit more engaging, fun, get the kids moving with obstacles and just kind of make it colorful and exciting for the kids,” Hart said.
The new format appeared to accomplish its goal. Hart said the event had full participation from students, compared with the Dance-A-Thon, where some children were reluctant to dance.
“The kids totally loved it, absolutely loved it,” she said. “[There was] full participation.”
Each station offered a different activity. Students shot basketballs into buckets, participated in yoga, completed exercises such as jumping jacks and push-ups, walked a balance beam with a beanbag on their heads and played a game similar to Simon Says.
“We tried to keep it like a variety,” Hart said. “There was something for everyone.”
The students also embraced the colorful aspect of the event.
“I think they really liked the color,” Hart said. “They were all just like, hit us again, hit us again. Like I want blue, I want red. They were super into the color.”
The PTA also wanted the event to bring students and staff together. Unlike the previous fundraiser, which was divided by grade, the color run-a-thon brought the entire school together, with groups of students from different grades participating throughout the event.
Hart said teachers also became more involved in the activities.
“With the Dance-A-Thon they kind of just stand there and dance where this really got the teachers super involved,” she said. “So that was really cool too.”
The money raised will benefit Arts in Motion programming throughout the school year, including author visits, assemblies, performances and other creative and educational programs for students.
Hart said AIM is a priority for the PTA because its programming reaches students across all grades. She recalled volunteering at an AIM hot-air-balloon assembly last year, when students learned about the science behind how hot-air balloons fly and were able to walk inside a balloon set up in the school gym.
“This fundraiser is like the most important thing,” Hart said. “We have to at least make sense because this is like our most important thing we want to give to the kids.”
Beyond fundraising, Hart said the PTA hoped the event would create a sense of community and school spirit while giving students a shared experience.
“It was like a really great event for community school spirit vibe,” she said.
