Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jorge Aguilar will attend final Olympic Day event on June 4
In the fall of 2018, the Sacramento City Unified School District and the Sacramento Running Association partnered to launch STRIDE, a district-wide initiative to expose students to a healthy lifestyle through running. The program integrates running and movement into the weekly elementary school schedule, while focusing on effort, spirit and respect.
Nearly 13,000 elementary students from 27 schools participated in the on-campus running program during the 2018-19 school year. Students have logged nearly 120,000 miles since September.
The culminating events for the STRIDE program are the STRIDE Olympic Days. 1,040 6th graders from 18 elementary schools will participate in track & field style events at four different SCUSD high schools.
Media is encouraged to attend the final Olympic Day event on June 4 at John F Kennedy High School, which will be attended by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Sacramento Unified School District Superintendent Jorge Aguilar. A press conference will be held on-site from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., with track and field events immediately following.
“Achieving an equity vision is the driving force behind the creation of this elementary sports program,” said Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jorge Aguilar.
“For so many of our students, the STRIDE program may be their first opportunity to participate in an organized sports program where they will learn not only lessons on the field, but more importantly, lifelong lessons,” added Aguilar.
STRIDE participating schools include Caleb Greenwood, Cesar Chavez, Crocker/Riverside, Genevieve Didion, Golden Empire, Hollywood Park, HW Harkness, Isador Cohen, James Marshall, John Bidwell, John Cabrillo, John Sloat, Leonardo da Vinci, Oak Ridge, OW Erlewine, Parkway, Peter Burnett, Pony Express and Sequoia Elementary Schools.
Student-athletes from the host high schools will serve in mentorship roles throughout the meets, assisting at event stations and coaching the elementary school students in the various exercises.
STRIDE awards will be given out throughout the meets to student-athletes who best embody effort, spirit and respect. The Sacramento City Unified School District and Sacramento Running Association will also be recognizing the top male and female runners from the year-long STRIDE program.
“We are so proud that STRIDE has been such a transformational program in the fitness culture in our city schools,” said Sacramento Running Association Executive Director Scott Abbott.
“The upcoming STRIDE Olympic Days are a great capstone event for our city’s 6th Graders as they wrap up their participation in the STRIDE program.
“It will be a fun year-end experience as well as a great introduction to the transition from fitness to sport as they matriculate into middle school,” added Abbott.
The Sacramento Running Association (SRA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to finding ways to encourage people of all ages and abilities to run. The SRA is committed to developing new, quality running events that appeal to a broad variety of runners.
SRA events include the recently concluded Gold Country Half, the Capital Cross Challenge on September 29, 2019, the Youth XC Series in October, the Run the Parkway on November 10, 2019, the California International Marathon on December 8, 2019 and the Super Sunday Run on February 2, 2020.