Who are we? STUDENTS
What we do? RUN
How do we do it? PHILLY STYLE
That’s the chant of new Students Run Philly Style team here at SLAMS. Students Run Philly Style is a non-profit organization that uses long distance running as a means to mentor young people in Philadelphia by helping them to set goals and create self-discipline. The program is entering it’s 15th year in Philadelphia and we’re so excited for SLAMS to join our sister campuses SLA Center City and SLA@Beeber who both have teams. Students Run Philly Style works to foster its core values of Courage, Effort, and Respect in all of its participants. Students must be in sixth grade in order to participate and can continue until they are eighteen.
Students Run Philly Style or SRPS meets three times a week. Students practice on Mondays, Wednesday, and Saturday mornings where they run a specified amount of miles. Saturdays are extra exciting because that is when we bring all the SLAs together and we get watch the high schoolers work with our middle schoolers. We’ve already run all along the Schuylkill River Trail and the Boxer’s Trail!
During the season which runs from March until November, students will participate in a number of races including the Broad Street Run and the Philadelphia Half or Full Marathon. In the past, Students Run Philly Style has taken students to run over the Ben Franklin Bridge into New Jersey and out to Valley Forge. Every year, a leadership summit is held where two students from each team across the city are selected to attend.
Our team currently consists of thirteen sixth graders: Jamirah, Lilia, Jack, Xavier, Ashley, Eniyah, Gus, Jacob, Aaliyah, Jacob, Mackenzie, Kandace, and Amenah. Our first race was the Philly Style 8K which was run across the historic Belmont Plateau and Cross Country Course. There were a ton of hills and students were challenged in ways that they had not been ready for. We asked our students what their favorite parts were and they said the finish line! The students were joined by other teams from all over the city as well as outside participants. Students finished off their race with a t-shirt and a donut from Beilers. Even more uplifting, our students’ families came to watch them at the race, cheer us on, and celebrate our success! This is how we build a team and a family.
Our big race was the Broad Street Run where students ran 10 miles down Broad Street from Central High School to the Navy Yard. Six of our students have met the age requirements and did an amazing job in the race!!