Looking for some fresh air, and exercise during the school day? Mrs. Karen Hurst of the health center is encouraging any interested GHS students to join the school walking club. During both lunches everyday, the walking club takes small walks around the track to get in some exercise throughout the day. It’s quite a small club, so to help her get the word out about the club I interviewed her for the Gillnetter to give you some more information.
Ben Sechrist: How many years has the walking club been going on here?
Karen Hurst: The walking club has been going on since 2018, so it’s been going on for a while. It ebbs and flows, so it’s dependent upon the student population. Some years we have students who walk regularly, and some years we have students join us at the end of their senior year and they need their hours in for graduation. Students need 7 and a half credits in health, so whether that’s a health class or a gym class or something related to that. Yoga classes, and ROTC. So if a student doesn’t have that they walk with us and we report that credit to their guidance counselor. And then there’s students who just want to get up and move. So right now it’s a little bit slow, and we usually walk outside, but because it’s winter we usually stay inside and we walk in the gym. And when we do walk outside, we get permission to leave the building and walk around the campus, or sometimes go a little bit further up the road.
BS: So around the boulevard?
KH: Not as far as the boulevard because we wouldn’t be able to get back in time. But we can go around the road, but we usually go around the building or the track sometimes, and we want to give students time to finish their lunch. So we usually walk first, they get their lunch first, bring it in [the health center] and go for the walk, and come back for them to eat.
BS: So since lunch block is only 30-minutes, and students need to eat in that time, of course, how long are the walks you typically go on?
KH: We usually walk around 15-20 minutes, and we give them 10 minutes to eat. But each time a student comes to walk, we give them credit for that. We don’t look so much at how long they walk as much as just doing it.
BS: So is this a whole-year club, year-round?
KH: It’s an anytime club. So a student can come once and never come back. They can come 3 or 4 times-
BS: And they still get credit [in reference to never coming back after one time]?
KH: Yeah, it’s not like a “you have to come 5 times a week, 3 times a week.” The student gets credit for what it is they do. What you put in is what you get.
BS: How many people are in the club?
KH: We had three people in the club earlier this year, and then it got cold, and there’s just people sitting in the cafeteria now. So we’re hoping to get kids to come back. They say “when it gets a little warmer.” We just want kids to see [the club]. I have done this for years.
BS: How do you promote the walking club? Maybe this interview will help to get it out there, you know, that it’s here, and so for kids who don’t know about it how do you get the word out?
KH: We offer it two times a day, during both lunches, try to make it accessible to everyone. Trying to get people to get up and move, walk. And we do put them in the announcements. And maybe not everyone can hear the announcements, but we’re also working on flyers, we’ll put up flyers to get the word out. So that’s how we’ll do it.
BS: Ok, and that’s it. Thank you very much for having me.
KH: Thank you.
