But that’s exactly what the students and staff at St John’s Lutheran School Kingaroy did during their Walk My Way Week in May, where through their combined efforts they walked 3530 kilometres.
Funds raised through Walk My Way support refugee children and enable them to go to school.
This was the first time St John’s had embarked on the Walk My Way experience and the variety of events made for a memorable week.
Staff began the weeklong experience by completing a 12km walk on Saturday 13th May, through the town, then along the rail trail and country roads. Breakfast was prepared by others. Several staff walked in their own time in the lead up to the Walk My Way Week. All staff involved donated to kick start the fundraising campaign.
Students then got involved every day of the following week at school by walking 15 minutes each day. Each day had a particular theme to help focus on the walking challenge. There were Walk My Way stickers, St John’s coloured house shirts, crazy socks, decorated shoes, and a blue clothes day. All of these helped to create a special celebratory feeling across the school.
Students were encouraged to seek sponsorship, with a competition to see which school sporting house could raise the most funds. As $26 sends one refugee child to school for a year, the students were keen to see how many refugee children could be supported. They watched with interest as the display at the library showed a growing collection of children.
When asked about his involvement in Walk My Way, a boy in Year 1 said he told lots of people about Walk My Way – “My grandmas and grandad, my aunties and uncles – ‘cause I wanted to get more money so I could help lots of people, ‘cause some kids don’t have enough money to go to school and I wanted to help them.”
A Year 4 student said, “I told my parents and stepparents about Walk My Way because I just wanted to help some kids get to school. I was really happy to do the walking at school because it was fun with my friends and not something we do every day.”
As a school, students and staff stepped out so that refugee children could step into school, and through their Walk My Way experience, St John’s raised $7540 enabling 290 refugee children to do just that!
Naomi Kotzur
Naomi Kotzur is a teacher at St John’s Lutheran School Kingaroy
