KOLOA — Alaka‘i O Kaua‘i fourth grade student Chase Batalucco peeled off 45 laps to become the top jogger at the school’s Jog-a-Thon held Friday in the school’s gymnasium.
“That was some crazy amount of rain that fell across the island, Friday, and there was no exception on campus,” said David “DJ” Adams, the school’s director. “Despite the adventures outside, the Alaka‘i O Kaua‘i Charter School still held our annual Jog-A-Thon on campus as we moved inside due to the weather. We are blessed to have a spacious gymnasium so we simply set up a course in the gym for our keiki to follow.”
To remain safe, the event was held class by class to adhere to the classroom bubbles, and minimizing the number of people on the course at any given time. Each class was given a specific amount of time to compete with music playing and a countdown being announced toward the end of the time period.
“We are extremely proud of our learners for them to now have the experience of competing in a running event,” Adams said. “We hope that through their participation, they will embrace the joy of being active and build on the character focus trait of the month which is confidence.”
The goal of the Jog-A-Thon was threefold being to build on the school’s monthly character trait focus of confidence, highlighting the importance of physical activity and positive self care, especially given the challenges of the pandemic, and fundraise for materials for project-based learning activities at the charter school.
“All of our classes are currently working on various projects, and the costs of these activities are not covered by public funding,” Adams said. “Additionally, we are also tuition free. We greatly appreciate the generous support of our learning community to keep us moving forward in a positive direction.”
Luna Makaneole was the top girl finisher for the kindergarten class with 15 laps, and a six-way tie developed for the boys, including Keegan Carolan, Oakley Christensen, Ozzy Brown, Benjamin Giunta, Kaleb McCoy, and Patrick Hensley marking 17 laps each.
Dakota Agustin topped the First Grade Girls with 21 laps, and Jaxen Nielsen and Demitrius Reilly each did 25 laps for top honors for the boys.
Zander Michaels did 24 laps for top Boy honors for the Second Grade with Hannah Chidester clocking 21 laps to take top Girl honors.
Omar Maes piled up 40 laps — just five laps off the pace – for Top Boy honors in the Third Grade, followed by Jessa Schmidt logging 30 laps for Top Girl honors.
Adams said Kierien Jacinto beat the boys with 26 laps for Grade Five Top Girl honors, chased by Top Boy Moses Adams a lap behind at 25 laps.
Josiah Cramer claimed Grade Six Top Boy honors with 36 laps, and Sofia Brosius snagged Top Girl honors with 23 laps.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
