Pagosa Peak Open School, the first District-authorized public charter school in Archuleta County, staged a successful fundraising event last week, raising $10,715 in donations, while challenging the students — grades K through 5 — to complete a home-made obstacle course in the possible shortest time.
Pagosa Peak board member Ashley Wilson provided a summary of the event earlier this week, during an interview earlier this week, and event volunteer Casey Crow provided the photos of the young athletes.
The challenge incorporated several pieces of ‘recycled’ playground equipment that had been donated to the school by the Town of Pagosa Springs when the Town replaced some equipment at South Pagosa Park. Volunteer parents had installed the equipment in early October, to prepare for the ‘fun-raising’ event.
Obviously, the inspiration for the ‘Challenge’ came from the ‘American Ninja Warrior’ TV show, which has been running for 10 seasons now. Here’s a short quote from an article about ANW by former basketball hero Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on The Guardian website:
ANW has been particularly inspiring for women. They must face the same course as the men with no modifications to account for size or strength. Many women have accepted that challenge and through their exceptional performances have become heroes. In 2014, Kacy Catanzaro, at only 5ft and 95lbs, bested men a foot taller and twice her weight to become the first woman to qualify for the finals and, so far, the only woman to complete a City Finals course. She inspired girls to push beyond what they assumed were their physical limitations. Since her initial success, dozens of other women have competed side by side with men.
The popularity of ANW has grown considerably over 10 seasons. In the first season, 1,000 people submitted video-taped auditions; for the 10th season, producers received 50,000 tapes. Gyms specifically designed to train the next generation of contestants have popped up all over America, with young children dancing through Floating Steps and sprinting up the Warped Wall. Though this probably will always be a niche sport, it is the sport that America needs: a pastime that embodies our values of inclusivity, individualism, and hope. It teaches us, to paraphrase Robert Browning, that an athlete’s reach should exceed their grasp.
Ashley Wilson:
“We incorporated the event into a family ‘field day’ so families could come and watch, and then have lunch with their kids. We had a wonderful online platform so that parents and students could send out invitations through social media and email, to get support for their participation in the Challenge, and to raise money for the items that each classroom had picked out, that they wanted to purchase.”
The online platform, TheGetMovingCrew.com, specializes in helping organizations gather donations for running and athletic events.
“There’s obviously a lot of fundraising platforms — some that don’t cost anything — this one we did have to pay a little bit, upfront, for. But because it was already designed for schools, it saved everybody, including the families, a whole lot of time when it came to creating the page for each student, putting up photos; it was very seamless. For most families, it probably took about five minutes.”
The event benefitted from a group of volunteers connected to one of our most popular workout gyms: CrossFit Pagosa. That team, lead by CFP co-owner Jacob Miskimens, had helped design and provide equipment for the obstacle course, and also served as ‘spotters’ to make sure the young competitors got the encouragement (and in some cases, the physical support) needed to complete the course.
The event was organized as a ‘cooperative’ event, rather than as a competition, and the kids did plenty of cheering and chanting to urge fellow students to reach their best effort.
Ashley Wilson:
“Everyone who completed the course and hit the buzzer at the end was awarded a ‘Ninja Warrior’ headband, and the students were motivational [to each other] because some of the kids didn’t want to finish the course. The first part of the course was really hard for some students. Everybody was really good at cheering each other on, and getting each kid to the finish line.”
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.