By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Hundreds of kids began to cheer and sprint as fast as they could in the field in front of Meadow View Elementary School March 14 as announcer Jonathan Aultman declared 30 seconds were left in the second-grade fun run.

The school dodged the threat of rainy weather throughout the morning as school officials and employees with the Atlanta-based Boosterthon fundraising organization held the annual MVES fun run.

“This is a lot of fun. You never know the impact you can have on a kid just with one encouraging comment,” said Aultman, who worked to keep the kids’ energy levels up by providing encouraging messages over the event’s sound system.

“We are going to shoot across the speedway like a firework,” Aultman announced, causing the kids to pick up their pace while high-fiving each other.

During the event, Boosterthon set up a pair of running tracks in the field as kids in each grade level spent about an hour completing as many laps as they could.

In the weeks leading up to the fun run, the kids gathered per-lap pledges from family members and friends. Every time the kids completed a lap, MVES teachers placed a mark on their shirts.

Most kids completed between 25-35 laps during their hour period, and a portion of the proceeds will help the school purchase classroom materials and instructional tools.

Aultman and other Boosterthon employees joined parents and teachers as they ran with the kids and held several themed laps, such as a “hoedown lap” and a “friendship lap.”

Members of the school’s PTO manned water stations on each running track, and provided freeze pops after the race.

“We have a lot of great support. A lot of parents come to watch their kids, and the PTO is out here helping us all day,” said MVES Principal Dr. Jodi Brewer. “(The kids) have been excited about this, and it encourages physical fitness.”

Some classrooms marched into and out of the fun run area displaying banners with messages such as “Mrs. Fleming’s Flashing Flames.”

“One of our character lessons talks about celebrating the successes of others, so we tried to stress that to the kids today,” Aultman said. “This is a lot of fun, because we get to come in and raise some much-needed money for the school.”