Manassas Park Literacy 5K Planned for May 7

It’s April, but the students and staff of Manassas Park and Cougar Elementary schools are already conditioning themselves for a 5K event in May—no joke.

 The Cougar Literacy Run is a yearly event that involves the betterment of body and mind for students, their families and all of Manassas Park.

 The literacy walk/run is scheduled for May 7 at 7:59 a.m. at Cougar Elementary School, said Scott Baldwin, Manassas Park Elementary fourth grade teacher and director of the event.

 There will be a kids’ run and a health and wellness expo at 10 a.m., he said.

 The program came into existence about six years ago when Baldwin said he was a teacher at Cougar Elementary.

“A couple of us teamed up to have a reading incentive program where kids would have a goal and they would read towards that goal,” he said. “It was very low key, we got teamed up with the Potomac Nationals and they gave us some tickets. So it was very small, but it was school wide which was Kindergarten through third grade at that time.”

 Students who met their goals earned tickets to the Potomac Nationals games.

 The literacy incentive portion of the event has also grown to include Manassas Park Elementary in addition to Cougar, he said.

 “The kids at (Manassas Park Elementary) set more personalize goals because they are a little bit more responsible; we can help them a little bit less than we would a kindergarten (student),” he said.

 This year, students began setting their reading goals in mid-February, he said.

 Upon completion each student will get a free shirt designed by Shirt Art of Woodbridge, a certificate and an invitation to the 5K run/walk he said.

 Students who don’t meet their goals are still welcomed to attend.

 The 5K run/walk was added about five years ago and is now held in connection with the reading incentive, said Baldwin, an avid runner.

 “We started small with local businesses and we started getting bigger and bigger and now this year, Wegman’s is giving us all the water for it,” he said. “The first year we had about 10 people and last year we had about 75.”

 The 5K has a very “modest” feel, Baldwin said. He enjoys that there is no online registration and that many of the same people run it each year, he said.  

 “It’s nice. The size right now I like, but at the same time, we’ll probably find some avenues to get bigger,” he said.

 This year, vendors and officials from city departments will be present along with students from Northern Virginia Community College, who will give massages to the racers.

 Cougar Elementary School Nurse Ann Shaw will coordinate the health and wellness portion of the event.

 “… The health and wellness, the literacy, the goal setting, the exercise part of it. We’re trying to link those four things together in one morning—I think nobody else in the area does that. It’s a very unique opportunity,” he said.

 There will be sponsors such as the elementary schools’ parent teacher association and Railroad Dentistry.

 Money from sponsorships and registration fees will go toward literacy development in both schools which is important, especially in times of budget crunches, Baldwin said.

 “Every year we’ve raised more money—all of that money comes back to the schools. All that money supports literacy development in this school and Cougar,” he said.

 Non-fiction reading has been identified as a tough area for some students  attending the two schools, especially with the high number of English As A Second Language students, he said.

 After consulting other teachers, several non-fiction book sets were purchased with money from the event, and put in the libraries for all the teachers to share, Baldwin said.

 This 5K is open to everyone, while the kids run is just for Manassas Park residents.  A map of the Cougar Literacy Run course is online.

 Registration is $20 before April 15 and $25 after that.

 Registration forms are available at mpark.net. Forms and fees should be sent to:

Manassas Park Elementary School

Attn: Scott Baldwin

9298 Cougar Court

Manassas Park, VA  20111