On Thursday, Sept. 26, the students of Carlyle Elementary School (CES) came together to participate in their annual Terry Fox Run.
For their afternoon recess of 15 minutes the youth would make laps around the schoolyard and playgrounds in support of the Terry Fox Foundation.
The day was overcast and threatened rain, but the spirit of the event would not be dampened.
Principal Shelley Sargent spoke with The Observer relaying a scene within the school.
"One student asked if we would still be going in the rain," Sargent said. "Another student responded, 'Well, Terry would have.'"
"Terry never gave up, which is a good attitude to have in life and it's important for youth to learn because it's a good lesson. You never give up."
Sargent went on to explain the event is important for this reason, but, also, for so much more.
"I look at it and see that more and more families are being affected and this is something we can do for the school to help with cancer research," Sargent stated.
"This is a way to create an impact and to help more people, while also creating that awareness amongst the youth."
Another lesson included in the participation of youth with the Terry Fox Run is optimism.
"Hope is one of the big messages of the day."
This year the school had a number of different rewards depending on the amount raised. These rewards included: swapping playgrounds if $2,000 was reached, each classroom would be able to dress their teacher up if $4,000, if $6,000 was raised then each student who raised money would be able to pie a staff member, while the school agreed that if $8,000 was raised students would only have reading homework for the week, and finally if the students were able to fundraise $10,000 an hour of games would be held in the gym.
In response to these rewards, students of CES worked together to raise about $6,500 for the Terry Fox Foundation, which means students will get to throw pies at staff members in the near future.
