Transfiguration's Tiger Pride Swarms the Maplewood Nature Center

A sea of black and gold flooded the gymnasium at Transfiguration Catholic School Friday afternoon as students and staff prepared for the Minnesota Marathon for Nonpublic Education.

Students, parents and staff all joined in prayer before embarking on their journey to the Maplewood Nature Center where they hiked around the lake 2-3 times, depending on their grade. 

The students demonstrated their “Tiger Pride” throughout the entire walk-a-thon by cheering and shouting as the school spirit echoed around the lake.

Upon their return, the students enjoyed refreshments and snacks while re-capping on their adventure. 

“We made our journey!” one happy kindergartener exclaimed. 

The statewide walk-a-thon has been supporting nonpublic schools since 1974 with a mission of raising awareness of the schools and supporting fundraising initiatives. 

According to Transfiguration’s principal, Jan Heuman, the walk-a-thon is the biggest fundraiser they participate in throughout the year. 

“The walk-a-thon is not only about raising money for our school. It’s about having pride in our school and pride in our faith,” she said. 

Each child had a goal of raising $75, which they all met. 

Heuman said there were several different incentives they offered to motivate the students, including a no-uniform day, movie day or crazy dress day. They also had the opportunity to run through the halls shouting, “I made my goal!”

“The kids loved that. It’s very rare that they have permission to run in the halls,” Heuman said. 

The overall fundraising goal for the school amounted to $30,000, which is slightly higher than the total goals of the children.

According to Heuman, they are still taking donations for the next couple of weeks.  If the school meets their goal they will celebrate by spray painting Heuman’s hair and constructing an obstacle course for the staff.