The Program...

Girls on the Run and Girls on Track of Ottawa and Allegan County are interactive learning programs for 8-12 year old girls that combine training for a 5k run with life-changing, self-esteem enhancing, uplifting warm-ups and workouts.

Our Mission Statement:

To educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living.

Our Objective:

To reduce the potential display of at-risk activities among its participants by encouraging positive emotional, social, mental, spiritual and physical development of pre-adolescent girls.

The focus of the Girls on the Run program is prevention. Our long term goals include:

• Decline in female confrontations with juvenile justice
• Reduction in anorexia and other eating disorders among girls
• Decrease in teen depression and suicide attempts
• Fewer adolescence with alcohol, tobacco and drug addictions
• Fewer teen pregnancies

Girls on the Run is not just an athletic program. The curriculum focuses on some of the following ideas:

• Appreciating people for who they are instead of how they look
• It’s healthy to show emotions
• Gossiping hurts everybody
• Teaches girls to stand up for themselves and make decisions about who they want to be

These lessons are taught through a routine of group activities, stretching, warm-up activities, running and a healthy snack.