Cecilia Dilland stands at the start line of the 5K run. She’s ready to run with the other girls from many different districts from all around St. Louis. A loudspeaker blares, announcing 30 seconds until the race starts. The crowd screams a countdown, five, four, three, two, one, Cece takes off.
Dilland, a third grade student at North Glendale, said that she really likes the activities and positive aspects of Girls on the Run. She said she enjoys coming up with ideas with her fellow GOTR members to come up with ideas to help their community and in making it a better place. GOTR, an organization that encourages young girls to become strong and independent. Dilland
“I like running and being with my friends,” Dilland said. “I also love the snackies!”
Dilland said that when she comes to GOTR practice, she becomes excited and happy. Dilland said that she loves to continue her GOTR practices outside of the scheduled ones by making sure to give her peers and community compliments, holding doors open for people and said that she is a kinder girl because of GOTR.
“GOTR helped teach me how to be happy again when I feel sad,” Dilland said. “I just need to be happy again”.
Kate Miller, a program coordinator at GOTR, who is one of three coordinators for the St. Louis territory said that GOTR is a positive youth development for young girls. She said that it integrates running and it’s been this way for just over 20 years. She said that the program is very well researched and has great outcomes for young girls and is good for [her] trajectory if [she] has had access to our program for one full season.
“When we say running, we really mean moving forward at our own happy paces.” Miller said “We say there is a place for everyone at GOTR.”
Miller said that the program inspires confidence and character development for these young girls, to also nurture her physical, social and emotional self. Miller said through this, [she] learns to care for others around [her] and makes [her] aware of her limitless potential and competentness.
“[My friend] and I decided to bring the program to the school we were teaching and it just sparked something inside me.” Miller said “A lot of our coaches say that they wish they had this when they were little, but then they realize that it’s never too late to be a girl on the run.”
Anna Croghan, a second grade teacher and GOTR coach at North Glendale elementary said that GOTR is about empowering young girls to be themselves and also being able to stand up for themselves. She said she worries about the girls in elementary school now because of how they’ll adjust to social media and all the pressures of the world. Croghan said GOTR is important to her because she wants to help her girls have confidence and be able to see their own truth.
“The connections that I have made with new kids have been amazing.” Croghan said “they’ll come down to see me every morning even if they weren’t one of my old students.”
Croghan said GOTR makes her feel better about society by just helping as many young girls as possible and helping them try to live their best lives. She said that the girl of today could be described as smart, strong and competent and she said that especially in the kirkwood school district, they do a good job of making young girls feel competent. Croghan said that when she was first introduced to the idea of GOTR at North Glendale, she said she was eager to help as many young girls as possible.
“My girls from last year, I feel like they’re like my kids because we grew so close.” Croghan said “It makes me feel so good to see them feel so good. They show up excited to be here and I just have loved seeing my girls grow so much.”
