Snoqualmie Elementary School is getting prepared for their annual Walk-A-Thon on October 17.  This event is filled with school spirit and friendly competition, as children walk as many laps as they can, and raise money as they do it!  Last year the students raised over  $36,000 for the school, and walked over 11,100 combined laps – which is over 2,225 miles.

“We are excited for this annual event!  The students love raising money and seeing how many laps they can do,” said Ali Paredes, Snoqualmie Elementary PTSA President.  “It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year and we hope to reach our goal of $40,000!”

A hefty goal isn’t stopping Snoqualmie Elementary from making this year’s fundraiser the best yet.

“We encourage businesses in our community to donate to the Walk-A-Thon,” Paredes said.  “The kids are motivated to raise money, but we welcome prize donations as well.  We welcome anything to help make this Walk-A-Thon a success!”

The money raised from the Walk-A-Thon is used over the entire school year for various programs, such as classroom experiences, teacher grants, an entire year of art programming for grades first through fifth, as well as a parent education class and several free family fun nights.

Last year the PTSA was able to purchase the Lucy Calkin’s Unit of Study for Teaching Writing for all the teachers.  “This is an example of how money raised is positively impacting our classrooms,” said Diana Reul-Shapiro, PTSA Secretary.  “This program offers the best writing curriculum for our students and is in line with the new Common Core State Standards.  We hope we can continue to provide programs like this for our amazing teachers and students!”

For more information on the SES Walk-A-Thon, www.septsa.com/walk-a-thon.