On June 4 at 10 a.m. over 800 girls (grades 3-8) from all over Maine — including as far away as Madawaska — will come together for the Girls on the Run Maine Celebratory 5K at the Brunswick Rec Center. One thousand family members and community volunteers will be there to support the students.
The Girls on the Run Maine Celebratory 5K is the culmination of a 10-week youth development program currently offered by more than 300 trained volunteer coaches in over 50 schools & community centers across the state. It is available to elementary and middle school students who identify as female or non-binary. The program is offered twice a year, in the fall and spring. Girls on the Run is designed to inspire kids of all abilities to recognize and embrace their inner strength and make meaningful connections with others. The program uses physical activity and dynamic discussions to build social, emotional and physical skills while encouraging healthy habits for life. Girls on the Run Maine is a non-profit in its 11th year.
For the second year, the Madawaska Elementary School’s Girls on the Run team will make the 5-hour trek on a bus to Brunswick to participate in the culminating event of the program.
“I am so excited and also nervous,” says Cailynn Doucette, a fourth grader at Madawaska Elementary School, about the Celebratory 5K. Nicole Pellitier, an assistant coach and parent to Dani, another student on the Madawaska team, adds, “It’s positive conversation and excitement [about the 5K]. The whole program leading up to and including the celebration is so organized and well thought out.”
Each GOTR practice teaches students social-emotional skills they can use to accomplish the GOTR Celebration 5K, as well as other big goals in school and life. Cailynn Doucette, the fourth-grader on the Madawaska team, appreciates how the program is about much more than running: “I like how it teaches you how to deal with situations that we may not learn from school classes. My favorite activity is learning how to handle situations that sometimes can’t be solved.”
Tricia Armstrong, Madawaska Elementary School counselor, volunteered to start the program at Madawaska Elementary because it’s easy to implement and teaches social-emotional skills experientially. She believes the best part of the program — and the Celebratory 5K — is that “anyone can do it.” Kids don’t need to be into sports or running to successfully participate. The main purpose of the program, and especially the Celebratory 5K, is for students to discover what they are capable of.
Armstrong says, “When [last year’s GOTR participants] realized they could finish the 5K, they all came back and said to other kids: ‘Anyone can do this.’ So this year, there are a lot more girls who didn’t originally think they could do GOTR. And the other girls said to them, ‘Yes, you can!’ The girls support and motivate each other.”
Both the school faculty and parents see positive changes in the kids, as a result of the GOTR program. A few of the students on the Madawaska team were “very reserved” in school, she said. By the end of the season, they were “talking all the time” with peers — not just during GOTR practices but throughout the school day. “One of the moms told me she couldn’t believe how confident and outgoing her daughter had become,” Armstrong said.
Nicole Pellitier, the assistant coach in Madawaska and a mother, finds the life skills GOTR provides to be helpful for her and her whole family, not just for Dani, her participating daughter: “At home we often use [two GOTR strategies] – taking a breather and using “I feel” statements. This has been helpful for me as a widow and single mother raising three children. Emotions run high at times and these basic skills have helped our family to deal with emotions in a healthy way. It’s so neat how I can just lead with ‘I feel’ and it flows from there. These lessons are practical for kids and grown ups alike!”
The lasting impact the program has on students’ social-emotional development, relationships and overall health is backed by research, according to Emily Clark, executive director of Girls on the Run Maine: “We know that girls’ confidence drops twice as much as boys by adolescence. In fact one study showed that the percentage of girls who described themselves as confident declined 26 percent during middle school [Hinklemen, 2017]. Girls on the Run helps girls gain or maintain confidence. When girls are confident they are more likely to excel academically, create healthy relationships, fight for gender equality, and have higher self-esteem, which leads to better mental health. Our recent brand study indicated that building confidence is the most important thing parents value in youth development.”
With the Celebratory 5K just weeks away, the Madawaska team is having fun building up to the final event. They encourage one another and are proud of the progress they’ve made so far. School Nurse and GOTR coach Melyssa Pellitier says the team exhibits joy and confidence at every practice now.
Cailynn Doucette, a GOTR participant, agrees, “I like that we all encourage each other to push through our leg pains and go. I have noticed that I am getting stronger and feeling better about myself.”
The 5K is no small undertaking, but Armstrong makes sure her students know that each of them is capable of accomplishing it: “I tell the girls, ‘You don’t have to run — you just have to go forward.’”
Girls on the Run Maine is a non-profit organization headquartered in Westbrook.