Girls on the Run, a program that seeks to boost the self-esteem and confidence of girls in grades three through eight, will serve as the host to a Girls on the Run 5K on June 3 at the Fair Haven Fields in Fair Haven.
Girls on the Run, a national nonprofit organization with a council headquarters in Hillsborough, focuses on teaching life lessons to girls, according to Executive Director Donna York.
Although the June 3 event features a 5-kilometer run, the organization is not focused solely on athletics.
York said there are 65 meeting sites in Monmouth, Middlesex, Somerset, Ocean and Camden counties under her council. Meetings are held in public schools and in local parks, she said.
York said girls who participate are introduced to morale boosting activities that correlate with issues they may be facing at that point in their lives. The curriculum sets forth important issues she said young women carry throughout their lives.
The curriculum for girls in grades three through five tends to focus on anti-bullying initiatives, the importance of standing up for oneself and the significance of being involved in a community, York said.
Speaking on a topic which she said remains relevant to girls in grades three through five – gossip – she said girls practice putting toothpaste back into a toothpaste tube. York said the activity encourages children to recognize the words they speak have power.
“Once it’s out, you can’t take it back,” she said, indicating once gossip has been spoken about an individual, the person who spread the gossip cannot take it back.
York said girls in sixth through eighth grade are exposed to “mature” subject matters that she said are more applicable toward the obstacles they face in terms of dating, cyber safety and the “unrealistic” media portrayals of women.
As part of their participation, which leads to a 5K run, the girls build up their stamina by running shorter distances when they attend meetings of the organization. Running is “the vehicle” York uses to describe the effort girls use to achieve a goal.
York said the final 5K (3.1-mile) race, which some of the girls have called “daunting,” signifies a final feat they must conquer; a task she said the girls have trained for in the previous 10 weeks of education, mentally and psychically.
York, who has 17 years of experience as the executive director of Girls on the Run, said the program has become increasingly challenging in the modern technological era – a time that she said the internet has presented new challenges that were once obsolete.
“When you have 12-year-old girls committing suicide, there is something wrong,” she said.
York said she observes girls who feel the need to adhere to a certain mold in order to be accepted by societal standards or strive to achieve a perceived version of perfection. She said girls often have skewed versions of what they perceive as adolescent normalcy. She said it is her duty to teach young girls they are enough as they are.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You are perfect just the way you are. You need to do what is right for you … not what anyone else wants you to do,” she said.
York said girls enrolled in the afterschool curriculum depart with a newly found sense of self-worth and a drive to mature into true reflections of themselves.
The second event will be held on June 12 at 20 Grove St. in Somerville.
To join a council or to register for a 5K, visit https://www.gotrcnj.org/.