Augie Walters ’21
THE ROUNDUP
What started as just Kyle Tran ’21 putting up posters to see who would help with the Foundation for Blind Children’s March for Sight eventually turned into a group of twelve teachers racing at the Brophy Sports Complex in order to help out the charity.
This all began with Tran’s involvement in the Romero Program which led him to work with the Foundation for the Blind Children on Tuesdays and Thursdays as a part of his internship for the class.
Tran reached out to multiple different sports teams and clubs to see what they could do to help.
What came out of these interactions, however, was something Tran did not originally expect.
“After I saw Kyle putting up posters for the March for Sight, I asked him what I needed to do to help out, and once he told me that I needed to run, me being the idiot that I am decided to challenge the entire track team” said Mr. Pete Burr ’07.
Following this decision from Mr. Burr, he was challenged by Coach Mike Scannell, a coach of the distance track team, and from that challenge Mr. Burr wanted to get as many teachers involved as possible.
With this, Jackson Moran ’21, one of the members of the track team and a close friend with Tran, helped gather twelve teachers together. Moran is also one of the Editors-in-Chief of The Roundup.
On March 17, under Moran’s lead, the teachers all gathered together to not only raise money, but also make memories that would stay with them for a long time moving forward.
“I do a decent amount of distance running these days so trying to run as fast as I could was a bit challenging for me as I do not know how to warm up or pace myself,” Mr. Burr said as he finished in third place with a time of just over six minutes.
Coach Scannell ended up winning the race, with Mr. Cooper Davis ’10 finishing in second.
Tran was extremely pleased with the evolution of the teacher race coming out of his work with the Romero program.
“We were able to use the teacher race to gain traction and excitement around the March for Sight and raise money for a great cause in the process,” Tran said. In a donation bucket at the entrance of the track meet, $317 dollars were raised.
One of the seniors on the track team, Xander Black ’21, was able to be out there to watch the race that afternoon.
“[It’s] not every day you get to see your own teachers race a mile on the track so that was very cool to watch,” Black said when reflecting back on the race.
Black’s involvement in the March for Sight was more than just a spectator at the teacher race however, as he was nominated to represent the track team in his own competition against Mr. Burr.
“Mr. Burr sent an email in early March about the March for Sight and asked the track team to nominate one member to compete against him to see who could run the most miles during the month of March. Since I’m typically the highest mileage guy on the track team, I was nominated,” Black said.
Not only did Black beat Mr. Burr during the month of March, he did so in convincing fashion running just about 265 miles over the course of the month compared to Mr. Burr’s 120.
Black played down his significant victory, as this was just business as usual for him, saying, “In a standard week of training I generally run about 65 miles a week, there were a couple of races we had this month though and my mileage was slightly lower those weeks since I tapered leading up to those meets.”
“I do not think that this competition is going to go away,” Mr. Burr said as he already prepares to help out again next year.
With this competition, both Black and Mr. Burr were able to significantly help the Foundation for the Blind Children in their efforts and will continue to do so moving forward.
“The money donated was all totaled up based on the mileage at the end of the month, and both Black and Mr. Burr did so much to contribute to that total,” said Tran.