Superior alums organize run for student success

Cody Androsky Wilson and her friends didn’t let budget cuts slow them down. They teamed up to create their own stimulus package for the Superior school district and the community.

On March 27, the streets of South Superior will feel the tread of sneakered feet during the Polar Bear 5K and 1 Mile Walk/Run. Money collected from the event will put students on the track to success. All proceeds will be earmarked for an interactive whiteboard for Bryant Elementary School.

“My goal is not only to raise money,” said Wilson, PTO president at Bryant. “We want to promote health and wellness and see the community pull together. This is for everybody’s kids.”

With the help of a few friends, all Superior High School graduates, Wilson formed a nonprofit citizens group and built the race from the ground up.

“She’s just so energetic,” said fellow PTO member Jann Newman. “I don’t think anyone else could have gotten it off the ground like she did.”

Wilson said she was floored by the great response she got from her friends, who have been meeting almost daily to organize the event.

“We haven’t seen each other since high school,” she said.

“It reunited us,” said Kristy Ramey, one of the planning team.

Currently, the district has 25 ActivBoards in use, at least one in every school. Bryant is the only school with only a single board, according to Sam Jones, IT director for the district.

“It’s a whole 21st century approach” to instruction, he said, that integrates technology with curriculum.

Wilson’s daughter, 9-year-old Caleyn, said the boards are “cooler” than regular whiteboards. In her third grade classroom; they use the device for everything from math and art to timed tests and studying volcanoes. But, the price tag is prohibitive – approximately $4,500 each, and budget cuts prevented the purchase of a second board at Bryant.

To forge a new funding path, Wilson gathered a handful of Superior women who were born to run – Ramey, Lindsay Scharte, Rachel Graskey and Stephanie Goodowski. For them, running is a passion. Ramey, for example, runs five to six times a week and plans to tackle Grandma’s Marathon this year.

To organize the new race, the women jogged through former race experiences in their minds, looking for ways to improve on them. Cost was one of the big stumbling blocks, Wilson said.

“A lot of runs we don’t do anymore because they’re too expensive,” she said. So they kept the entry fee minimal — $15 for adults and $12 for children under 12.

To encourage family participation, they offered the 1 mile option at a reduced price – $10 for both adults and children.

“And it’s in Superior,” Ramey said. “I think that’s a huge deal. We always have to go somewhere else to do something active.”

To date, the five organizers have relied on word-of-mouth to attract participants. Fifty people have already registered to run, from as far away as Hayward, Hermantown, Wausau and Iowa.

Newman signed her whole family up for the 1 mile – husband Paul, 11-year-old Bonnie and Jeffrey, 8.

“Just being out there and being part of it, it’s going to be a great time,” Newman said. “Winter has been very long.”

The course begins at Bryant School, winds down to the Superior Airport along Hammond Avenue and then back to the school via Tower Avenue. It’s quick, fun, flat and easy, organizers said. Strollers and dogs on leashes are welcome.

“We just really want it to be a fun event,” Ramey said, so people will come back next year. Their goal is to hold the race annually, purchasing an ActivBoard for a different school each year.

“Kristy and I plan to do this for the next 20 years,” Wilson said with a grin.

For more information on the event, look it up online at www.polarbear5k.com/

home.html. Registration forms are available through the site until Sunday. People can also register for the race from 3:30-7 p.m. the evening before the race and from 8-9 a.m. the day of the race at Bryant School.

All participants will receive a free T-shirt. Prizes will be given away, including certificates for a free kids meal at Erbert & Gerbert’s for all youth participants.

A silent auction will also take place for a skydiving experience from Skydive Superior.

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