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The
students would combine their individual mileage as a class
to see if either class, or both, could virtually cross the
entire continent as a team within one 9-month school year.
Paul Staso developed the Run/Walk Across America curriculum during
the summer of 2005 and his wife, Vicki (the P.E. teacher
at Russell Elementary), began the project at the school
that September.
Our research had showed that some other P.E. programs in
America had done similar virtual treks; however, we created
a unique motivating element into our endeavor
─
one that we believe is a first for such a curriculum. It was
decided that if either the 4th grade class or the 5th grade
class, or both (but not combined), could virtually
cross the continent by the last day of school on June 9,
2006, then Paul Staso would actually attempt to run the
entire route across America that the students virtually
crossed... and he would do it alone. He stood before the
students in September 2005 and made that promise.
Both classes proved to be successful and finished what is
believed to be the first fully documented virtual trek
crossing of the entire United States within one school year
by a single class (the 5th grade class of 40 students
finished first). Paul, Vicki and the students received
congratulatory letters from mayors, governors, senators, and
others from around the United States. The curriculum online
guestbook was signed by people worldwide and in May 2006
Paul Staso was even contacted by NBC News about a possible
feature on their "Making A Difference" segment.
Unfortunately, NBC decided not to prepare a news story for a
national audience due to other stories that they deemed as a
greater priority.
Keeping his promise, Paul's Oregon to
Delaware run, called
P.A.C.E. Run 2006, began June 23, 2006 and was fully documented through an
extensive web
site where the students could follow his progress and
actually see the locations that they virtually traveled
through during the previous school year. Ultimately,
Paul's focus with each step was to fulfill his promise to
the students, and
he was also promoting physical fitness in children of
all ages.
The route that was selected for the Run/Walk Across America
included 15 states and 3,200 miles. Also, rather than just
focusing on physical education and physical activity it was
decided that the run/walk should also educate the students
about the U.S. and the various places that they were
virtually running and walking through. Information was
collected and an educational web
site project developed. This project from the 2005-2006
school year remains online as a model for schools to use in
developing their own virtual treks. You can visit the
Run/Walk Across America journey at
www.seeusrun.com.
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The purpose of each virtual trek is for students
to run and walk toward greater fitness while at the same
time learning about the locations that they virtually travel
through. It's through this combination of fitness and
learning that students experience places beyond their
school boundaries in a unique and challenging way. The virtual trek
web sites developed by Paul and Vicki Staso regularly
acquire visitor traffic from around the world. The
seeusrun.com
site from 2005-2006 still receives thousands of visitors
each school year, and Paul and Vicki frequently receive
e-mail messages from teachers asking how they can implement
a similar program in their schools.
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