Story by Angela F. Durkin
MARTINSBURG — The first Berkeley Heights Elementary 1-Mile Color Fun Run and Walk welcomed 65 participants to the school grounds to help raise funds for the school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Sunday.
Julia Linaburg, PTA president, was happy with the turnout for the organization’s first Color Fun Run. Registration was $10 for children, $20 for adults, and a family registration was available for $50. All funds raised will benefit future PTA events.
“Most of the runners were families,” she said. “We had a couple of staff members participate in the run, itself, but mostly, it was families.”
Linaburg said they were joined by one family from Orchard View Elementary after extending an invitation to their students.
“This is our first year doing the Color Fun Run,” Linaburg said. “We wanted to see how this event went, if it did well, and we want to try and turn it into an annual event but possibly during the spring next time.”
One reason the event was a success, according to Linaburg, was due to the efforts of Berkeley Heights Elementary’s administration and staff. They had the honor of manning the seven color stations along the mile-long course.
“We had our administration, they came out, and we had staff who came out and threw color,” she said. “They’re also part of the PTA, but we had our principal, Ms. Galliday, out there throwing color. Ms. Rose, our assistant principal, was out there.”
Linaburg also gave credit to several teachers who threw colors onto the runners’ white shirts but especially to physical education teacher Angeleigha Graybill.
“Ms. Graybill, she is our gym teacher, and she does morning clubs for our school,” she said. “We wanted to work with her, to collaborate with her, to make this event successful. She helped me by walking around the school and finding the best trails and which ways to go. She was a huge help. Also, our treasurer, Ms. Whitney Jones. We kind of took off with the event, along with Ms. Katrina Heath. She’s our secretary, and she’s also an EL teacher at Berkeley Heights.”