Walk-a-Thon All in Good Fun for Grant-White

Let's walk about 1-1/2 miles, sing, have fun, drink some water and walk back.

That's what will be on tap for 120 students from Grant-White School in Forest Park Wednesday during their second Walk-A-Thon.

Eighteen staff members will accompany the third-fifth graders, who will start out at 9 a.m., take a pretty straight route from the school at 147 Circle Ave., to Randolph Street then to Lathrop Avenue, to Chicago Avenue and then to Thatcher and the Trailside Museum in River Forest.

They'll get some water into them, rest up and head back the same way they came, said Sue Giblin, a fifth-grade instructional aide at the school.

They'll get a treat when they return.

The treat as well will be the field trips and the assemblies and other things that they'll be able to have with the money they raised.

Students collect pledges from parents, friends and family members. The event took in $1,800, Giblin said.

The student raising the most gets a gift card. The class raising the most money gets to take in a matinee at the Lake Theatre - complete with popcorn and juice. Last year Gina Martino's third grade class decided to wait to go to the movies and caught a showing of "The Pirates! Band of Misfits."

Last year the program was a wonderful success, Giblin said. The competition was spirited and they teased each other about who would rake in the most loot.

But the youngsters felt the walk to the park district headquarters on Harrison Street near Des Plaines Avenue wasn't far enough. It only took about 20 minutes to walk there, Giblin said. They wore their school tee-shirts, as they plan to again this year, and carried signs.

"We thought we'd extend it a little bit this year to find a happy medium," Giblin said.

Students probably won't come equipped with posters, as they did last year, she said. "They didn't have to walk as far," she said.