AS THE STUDENTS RAN BY, their formerly white T-shirts were transformed into a rainbow of colors as parents held out squeeze bottles filled with powder and blasted each student with a puff of color.
St. Norbert Catholic School hosted its annual Color Run on April 17 for its preschool through eighth-grade students on the field. Like a jog-a-thon, students gathered pledges and then ran, jogged and walked laps (or were pulled in a wagon if they were in preschool) for 45 minutes to raise money for their school in Orange.
PRESCHOOLERS SIT IN A WAGON AS COLOR POWDER SWIRLS AROUND THEM DURING ST. NORBERT CATHOLIC SCHOOL’S COLOR RUN.
“Everyone’s out there having a great time,” said the school’s development director Megan Heiman, who organized the annual event. “The students are having a ball, and parents equally are having a blast.”
The Color Run is St. Norbert’s largest fundraiser of the year, helping to keep tuition costs down, explained principal Joseph Ciccoianni. All the money raised goes toward the school’s general fund, which pays for everything it takes to keep the campus running: staffing, curriculum and facilities. Hosting the Color Run allows the school to avoid having to raise tuition, Ciccoianni added.
“For some families, that extra $500 or $600 would break them,” he said. “Being able to offset that cost to friends and family, but in a way that they are getting involved in their kids’ education— it is a big help to families.”
One of the traditions that makes the Color Run so special is that the 3- and 4-year-old preschool students also attend the event. The younger students can choose to walk or run around an inner track or get pulled in wagons by eighth graders. For some graduating students, it’s a full-circle moment pulling the wagons they used to ride in.
“It’s really sweet because I was once here as a preschooler,” said eighth-grader Julian Bystedt, 14, as he took a breather from pulling a wagon. “Even though I don’t remember it, I’m doing it now. It’s cool to be someone they look up to like I used to look up to eighth graders.”
Sixth-grader Jacob Corrals, 12, said he remembers being pulled in the wagon with his friend who he is running with today.
“It was just really fun,” Corrals said
He added that the event is special because “everyone comes together as a family and it’s exciting.”
While many of the older students said they were running for fun, first-timer James Beckman, 6, said his strategy was to run as many laps as he could.
“I want to do all 46 laps,” the kindergartener said. Beckman said he remembers cheering on his older brother at the Color Run before he started at St. Norbert. The two also had their own color run at home when their older brother missed out due to sickness. The real thing, though, is as good as Beckman thought it would be.
“It’s great,” he said. “Getting all the colors!”