After a hiatus of several years, the Girls on the Run after-school program has returned to West Sedona School with 20 participants and a wait list of around 5 students under the direction of fourth-grade teacher Kelly Cadigan. 

“Growing up, I was always in some sport that involved running, and it was always empowering to me to be able to exercise and feel good about myself, and that’s something that I really want to foster in our team,” said Cadigan, who graduated from Sedona Red Rock High School in 2008. “I ran for the track team at Red Rock High, was in all the soccer activities. I just think it’s an amazing thing to be able to do, and these kids can stick with it for a long time, and it gives a good start for these girls.” 

“Everybody’s nice and encouraging, and I love to run, too, because I have growing pains a lot,” third grader Violet Young said. 

“While it sounds like a running club for girls, it is more of an empowerment program,” Northern Arizona Council Director of Girls on the Run Kelly Teeselink said. “We serve girls [in] third through eighth grade, and we use running and movement and physical activity to teach girls life skills that we want them to have for the rest of their lives. So things around self-confidence, building positive relationships with other people, with themselves, with their bodies.” 

“You stop think and then breathe, and then you have to come up with a good response so you don’t like say anything mean to [others],” fifth grader Melody Medina said, explaining part of what she had learned in the program. 

Meanwhile, fourth grader Aisa Gallegos said learning how to control her breathing was what she had improved the most so far. 

“If I’m jogging and I’m running, I will breathe slowly in, and then after, I’d breathe out, and just keep doing that,” Gallegos said. “It’s kind of hard. [But I’ve] also learned about helping each other, self-positive talk and a lot more things, like just having fun and helping other people, in making sure that I feel good about myself, too.” 

This season, the program is working with 27 teams across Northern Arizona, including about 340 girls from Coconino, Yavapai and Navajo counties. In the Verde Valley, GOTR operates at ClarkdaleJerome Elementary, Cottonwood Community School, Mountain View Preparatory and Sedona Charter School. A team typically averages around 15 participants in order to provide the best attention to individual students, with an upper limit of around 25. 

“When I reach my goal lap has been my favorite part so far,” fifth-grader Luna Bustos said. “[Cadigan] makes us write on her journal [the number of laps we complete]. I started off with eight laps … and then I did 15, and today I’m hoping to reach 17 … I feel amazing and I feel like if I can run 10 laps, I can run a marathon.” 

One of the ways the group encourages each other to go further is by bestowing the title of “star sparkler.” 

“A star sparkler is like when you shine and you like, encourage others, saying you can do this,” fifth-grader Scarlett Cordova explained. 

“Over that 10 weeks, those girls are learning all those tools, but they’re also training to complete a 5K and so that’s where that running piece comes in,” Teeselink said. “So at the end of the season the organization hosts a 5K for all of our girls and our teams all come together.” 

Cadigan said the program also includes a community service project that the girls have to complete before their 5K event. 

“The girls develop their own project to make a positive impact on our community, whether it’s in our city or our school,” Cadigan said. “It’s a great way to teach them the value of giving back.” 

This year’s Fall Season Celebratory 5K Run for the Verde Valley will take place on Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Camp Verde Sports Complex at 10 a.m. 

“Girls on the Run of Northern Arizona has been around for 15 years, and we’ve traditionally hosted our end-of-season 5K in Flagstaff,” Teeselink said. “Last year we decided to pilot a second 5K in Camp Verde … That is a good opportunity for people to get involved. We do need volunteers for that event. Even if it’s just coming out to cheer the girls on the course, it just shows girls that people in their community care about them enough to come out and support them.” 

Each girl will run with a “running buddy,” a personal cheerleader who is typically a family member, to offer encouragement. 

“We never turn a girl away if she can’t afford the program fee,” Teeselink said. “The West Sedona team is a very high scholarship team, and so we are only able to host programs at high scholarship sites because of donations … We’re able to provide the program only because of the community support, and so most of those girls receive scholarships as well as new running shoes and [athletic clothing] if they need them, and their family can’t afford them.” 

For more information about Girls on the Run, visit gotrna.org.