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P.A.C.E. Trek: Schweinfurt Kids run across Germany
Mar 25, 2010
Paul Staso, who once ran across America, stopped in Schweinfurt Tuesday, March 16 to speak with students from both the Schweinfurt elementary and middle schools.
Who’s the man running across the globe, despite heavy snowfall, pushing the high-tech stroller (minus the baby) with food, water, and technical equipment? Forest Gump? No, that’s Paul Staso, former 5th grade teacher and founder and president of the P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation (Promoting Active Children Everywhere).
Staso, whose most recent P.A.C.E. trek goes across Germany, stopped in Schweinfurt Tuesday, March 16 to speak with students from both the Schweinfurt elementary and middle schools.
Through his P.A.C.E. treks, Staso aims at raising awareness of the importance of physical fitness among kids and at strengthening their self-esteem by demonstrating what they are capable of if they just take it step by step, or in his case mile by mile.
During his visit in Schweinfurt Staso specifically encouraged kids to set own goals, regardless of complexity, and to develop the motivation and persistency to achieve them.
“Everyone needs goals, even the young kids. Their goal might just be to make their own bed every day in this week, but they should be setting goals for themselves” Staso said, explaining how setting small goals will lead to bigger achievements.
“You see the kid who wants to be a doctor, a lawyer or a fireman and no matter what the occupation is or the challenges are, you have to take care of your body. I want kids to think about what they want to do and see the fact that a healthy body will get them there better,” he said.
Staso launched P.A.C.E on a promise he kept with a group of fourth and fifth graders. If the students could rack up the miles it would take to cross America in a school year, which they did, he would make the trek himself. Staso ran across the United States in 2006, a total of 3,260 miles in 108 days, averaging more than a full marathon per day. After running across Montana in 2008 and through Alaska in 2009, Staso is on track this year to run 500 miles across Germany. On his Germanic journey he will visit several DoDDS schools through March 30.
Students around the world run virtually side by side Staso by tracking their miles at home, where ever that may be. Over 8,000 children participate in Germany alone. Of those include Schweinfurt’s very own team of 23 students, the Walking Knights, established at the middle school by physical education teacher, William Kowalski.
The Walking Knights are running along with the P.A.C.E Trek, trying to beat Staso to the finish line, which, according to Mr. Kowalski, has become a more challenging task than expected.
The school’s P.A.C.E. trek participation does not only include veteran runners, but has also motivated new runners to pick up the hobby.
“It’s doable, but you can’t give up when it gets a little hard, you have to keep it up to get better,” said 7th-grader Cennet Huggins, describing her first running experiences. “It’s just like this: if you begin something you always have to follow it through, you can’t just give up.”
For Staso, his ambitions reach further. Staso wants to teach kids about integrity which is something that isn’t easy to learn in a world where promises are much too lightly broken, according to Staso. He sees military children particularly advanced for this lesson.
“I think military children have a better chance to understand that. These kids are around the military and they see integrity in action all the time. It is something that is very visual to them.” He also spoke about his experiences with military children, also highlighting their strong appreciation of family values.
For a man who has tallied up thousands of miles, great achievements do not come easy. “I was asked if running across America was my greatest achievement, but it wasn’t. My four kids are my greatest achievement,” Staso said. “And when I said that in that assembly to that boy, the response I got was unbelievable to me. Every child in that room just started clapping at that. That caught me completely off guard,” said Staso visibly moved by the kids’ insightful reaction. “Everyone just started clapping, because they understand the importance of that and of family, because they got parents going overseas and they are in dangerous ways all the time. So to have that kind of focus on your children as being the priority means a lot to those kids.”
For further information on P.A.C.E., Paul Staso or youth fitness and health, visit www.pacetrek.com. Here teachers and coaches can also sign up their running teams at no cost.
Story and photo by Eva Bergmann, USAG Schweinfurt Public Affairs
