Press release
From Girls on the Run:
Asheville, NC, May 10, 2013 Eagle Soars Consulting, an Elite Sponsor of GOTR of WNC, gave current Girls on the Run participants an opportunity to compete in an Essay Contest.
The purpose of the contest was to write an essay about who they chose as a Running Buddy for the GOTR 5K on May 18th at Fletcher Park. The following top essayists won free race registrations for their Running Buddies and will be recognized at the event:
bull; Heidi Cruz-Salazar, a 4th grader at Emma Elementary, chose Leslie Tritle, one of her GOTR Coaches and a teacher, to be her Running Buddy. I don’t just love her because she runs, no! I love her hard and helpful work. I love her more than anything, really like my family and even more.
bull; Amira Mala, a 4th grader at Burnsville Elementary, chose a neighbor and friend, Robert Tomlin, to be her Running Buddy. Robert is very encouraging and is an expert runner. He has been in many races, and he is a good athlete plus a good friend.
bull; Azalyn (Azy) Sturgill, a 5th grader at Fairview Elementary chose her little brother, Ayden, as her Running Buddy. He is always supporting me, no matter what I do. I love my brother so much that I would buy him a million planets. That is why I picked Ayden to run with me.
The overall winner was Donesha Burgin, a 5th grader at Bruce Drysdale Elementary who chose her father, Anthony Schaeffer, to be her Running Buddy. Her essay is re-printed below.
My Hero
My Running Buddy will be my dad, and he is a very good athlete in all sports. He works out 4 to 5 times a week at the gym we attend. While he is downstairs working out, my dad gives me several activities to do upstairs. I play basketball, jump rope and do soccer drills. After he finishes his workout, we do running drills on the court. My dad says to us every day that besides waking us up every morning, exercise is the second best feeling he gets to enjoy.
What I like most about my dad is that he is a hard working and single parent raising me, my sister Jazmine (6 years old) and brother Sabian (8 years old). You can say that he is my mother and father in our house today. Regardless of how tired my dad is after work, he finds time to listen to me about anything in life. Since my dad was given full custody of me, Jazmine and Sabian 4 years ago, my self esteem has grown a lot. I am a very confident person about doing anything I want to do. My grades went from D’s and C’s to A’s and B’s in school. I have only missed 5 days out of school due to illness in the last 4 years.
It feels good to wake up with a smile every day. If I don’t remember anything that my dad has taught me, I will always remember one thing he says, “Always pray, don’t be afraid to pray, and never be too proud to pray.” His is not just my dad, not just my role model, he is my hero.
For more information on how to get involved with Girls on the Run of WNC, interested parties can go to www.gotrwnc.org. To learn more about the services offered by Eagle Soars Consulting and their offer to give back 15 percent on marketing contracts, visit www.eaglesoars.com.
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.