NEWS PHOTO JEREMY APPEL
Students at Vincent Massey School participated in the Terry Fox Run Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019. They raised $800 since the beginning of September by running laps around the school.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
Students at Vincent Massey School are expected to raise $800 for their Terry Fox Run Thursday, greatly exceeding their $500 target.
Instead of simply doing their run Thursday, kids since September have had the option of running laps around the school building “to equal the distance ran by Terry Fox,” said principal Andrew McFetridge.
Fox ran an average of 42 km a day on his journey from St. John’s, N.L., to Thunder Bay, Ont., so the kids’ target was a total of 42 laps.
There was also a pre-run assembly to get the students pumped up, with a breakdancing demonstration from GX Dance Studio.
“This is actually the first time we’ve met as a whole school – all staff and one kids in place this year,” said McFetridge. “It kind of kicks off the year in a positive, fun way as a small reward for the kids for their dedication doing the Terry Fox laps.” The Terry Fox Run happens every year at schools around the country, but McFetridge says its message is sadly as relevant as ever.
“Terry Fox is a Canadian hero,” he said, adding that his mother passed away two years ago from the disease and his father is undergoing treatment “in the last stages of his life.”
“Cancer touches everyone’s lives. No doubt, virtually every staff member – perhaps every student – in our school has a friend or family member who is dealing with cancer now, has dealt with and beat cancer, or passed away from cancer.”
McFetridge says Fox’s “amazing feat of self-efficacy and passion” should serve as an inspirational to people of all age cohorts.
