Lower School P.E. Launches New Tech for Beloved Mile Marker Program

Lower School P.E. teachers launched a new version of the beloved Mile Marker program this fall. The new version is in partnership with Nike’s Marathon Kids initiative, making it easy to digitally track students’ mileage and follow along as they progress through the school year and beyond.

“Adopting and modifying Marathon Kids into our already successful Mile Marker Program offers more incentives to complete laps and the program is far more user friendly,” Lower School P.E. Teacher Scott Corris said. “Engaging online in this program with their parents while at home can only lend itself to more confidence and joy in moving.”

By using Marathon Kids, students can set goals, track their progress on mile accumulation throughout the school year, and win special prizes. The cloud-based program includes an app and web browser platform so students and parents can follow along.

“By using the amazing Marathon Kids online system, parents and students can interact with and utilize a wide array of resources that motivate and sustain student engagement,” Lower School P.E. Teacher Ben Smucker said. “No more using markers and paper cards. Instead, students have personalized ID badges with QR codes that are scanned each time they go around the track on fitness days, which help them achieve their marathon goals.”

The Lower School P.E. team is hoping that all students in grades 2 to 5 can complete a marathon (26.2 miles) and every student in kindergarten and grade 1 can complete a half marathon (13.1 miles) by June 1, the conclusion of this year’s program.

“For so many students, this will be their very first opportunity to fall in love with running and movement,” Smucker said. “Incorporating a well-balanced, healthy lifestyle begins on your feet with exercise, so getting to facilitate a program like this brings us so much joy!”

Students can accumulate mileage by walking, running, hiking, and exercise and they can still earn the much-loved “footies” for every five miles completed. If students complete 50 miles, they earn a 50 Mile Club T-shirt.

“I love being able to track and follow the progress of the entire Lower School and getting to see the movement data sorted in graphs and other online visuals,” Smucker said.

The program will also track the progress of students’ mileage throughout the entirety of their time in the Lower School. So at the end of fifth grade, families can admire the hard work their students put in over their OES Lower School journey.

“Being able to see student progress, both individually and as a whole, is incredibly motivating and exciting to see,” Smucker said. “When you’re able to quantify and visualize our growth, it makes the program all the more accessible and gives kids the tools to create goals, and ultimately, make fitness a part of their everyday life.”