THUNDER BAY – During last year’s Terry Fox run, St. Francis School principal Shelley Taylor says she was a little worried for her students.
Instead of having a worry-free place to help raise money for cancer research, instead they were running on streets and sidewalks.
On Friday the school community unveiled a solution, one that goes well beyond an annual fundraiser, thanks in part to a generous donation from a Thunder Bay businessman.
Sam Romeo built the Northwood school a gravel running oval, after learning about the need from Taylor, the two encountering each other at a meeting of a board the two serve on.
“You’ll also notice we put some money into our kindergarten play structure, where our kindergarten students have a natural play environment,” Taylor said.
“Our next stage is to do an outdoor classroom.”
Taylor said it’s all about student health and wellness.
“I truly believe the more active students are, the healthier they’ll be, the less mental health concerns there will be,” she said.
“They’ll be strong and resilient as a whole person.”
Taylor added she’s never before in 30 years of being an educator seen her students quite as excited to get back to class.
“I was really excited about this about the first day of school,” she said. “The kids were pumped when they saw the track out here. We developed an active playground. Also you’ll notice there is a lot of hop scotch and a number of activities the health unit worked with us on.
“They were super excited.”
Count Anna Gaudino among those who agree.
The Grade 6 student said she was thrilled to see the work that had been done in the schoolyard over the summer.
“We were really surprised,” said the youngster, who plans to join the rest of the school and use the track in an attempt to accumulate enough kilometres to equal a run across Canada, a challenge the school has embraced.
“We’re going to try to get in at least five laps every second break,” Anna said.
For his part, Romeo said it was the right thing to do.
“It’s something I really liked doing and wanted to do just to give back to the community,” said Romeo, the owner of BNL Contracting.
