Fremd Cross Country Team Starts Running Buddy Program with Partners for Our Community (POC) Community School
Coach Darius Sanchez, Fremd's Head Boys Cross Country Coach, recently started a Running Buddy program between his long-distance runners and the junior high students in the POC Community School at Winston Campus.
Once a month, members of Fremd's Cross Country team meet with about 20 kids who participate in the POC Community School. The Running Buddy Program is a chance for the high school students to teach the younger students proper running techniques, inspire a love for running, and build mentoring relationships.
"I'm trying to develop good members of our community, not just good athletes," said Coach Sanchez. "The boys on our team are learning a lot from working with the junior high kids."
Max Murphy, a Fremd Sophomore who helped start the Running Buddy Program, said his favorite aspect of the program is when they get some of the kids involved who typically don't participate in other activities at the Community School.
Fremd and POC plan to continue the Running Buddy Program next school year and hopefully for many years in the future.
"If at the end of this experience we have encouraged a few young adults to love running, built some relationships 'across town' and helped to unite all of Palatine, and provided a time for valuable mentoring, we will have accomplished our goal," said POC Director, Kathy Millin.
About POC Community School
Located at the Winston Campus school in Palatine, the Palatine Community School project brings together the academic and social support needed to ensure that all students in our area succeed by offering a variety of programs after the school day. They offer a combination of academic enrichment activities, tutoring and mentoring, technology training, culture and arts awareness, STEM curriculum, recreation, and health services to students and their families.
For more information about the POC Community School, contact Partners for Our Communities (POC), a local 501C (3), non-profit community center, at 847-776-9500 or visit www.poc.news.