Morse Marathon - Oct 24, 2023

10/16/2023 6:19 pm

 

 

The sun was shining. The music was blasting. The volunteers and community members were cheering. The 2023 Morse Marathon was GLORIOUS! 

 

There were two big changes for this year's marathon: 1) the track was expanded in size, so it took longer to complete one lap and 2) it wasn't muddy for the first time in recent memory! The Morse Marathon is the annual school fun run, promoting fitness and community. All Morse students participate - even out littlest learners in Special Start had their own Morse Marathon in the school garden later in the week.

 

The main event is held at Magazine Beach, by the Charles River. There are two shifts. For each shift, the students cross the Memorial Drive footbridge, listen to some guidance and expectation setting from Mr. F and Ms. Headley (along with some awesome tunes), and then they are off! Some run, some walk, some skip, some hold hands or do cartwheels, but all have a blast. At the end, everyone gathers for a cool down in the form of line dancing. Each student received a medal to commemorate the date upon returning to the school. 

 

This year we had a couple of "celebrities" join us...Dr. Leith couldn't resist participating, and Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui made her annual appearance as well!

 

Big thanks to:

- the PE staff (Mr. F, Mr. B, Ms. Mae), who take on the bulk of the planning, along with the school admin team, as well as the full school staff for helping to seamlessly execute the event

- the 25 FMS volunteers who help keep the kids on the track and help them as needed

- all the parents, caregivers, and community members who attended the event to cheer on our Morsels

 

The Morse Marathon is also the largest FMS fundraiser of the school year. This year we set an aggressive fundraising goal of $10,000. I'm happy to share that we reached 96% of that goal! Amazing work! Another HUGE thank you to all of our sponsors, with extra kudos to those families who went above and beyond and encouraged family members and friends to donate also. Approximately 70 Morse families participated in the fundraiser. 

 

The very best part about the Morse Marathon was that the kids had SO MUCH fun. Ms. Headley reports that she lost count of the number of Morsels who asked her "can we do this again soon?" after the event. 

 

See you in Fall 2024 for the next Morse Marathon!

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Original post:

 

Most of you probably found this page because you are looking for details and logistics. The latest is below. For anyone looking for information about what the event is and why we love it so much....keep scrolling. 

 

Details for the 2023 event are coming together. In the meantime, please enjoy a ride in the time machine for a look back at past events!

2022 - Blog post | Instagram post 1 ~ post 2 ~ post 3

2021 - Blog post

 

     

Details & Logistics

When: Tuesday, October 24, 2023 

Rain Date: October 26

Time: 8:30-11:00 am
Where: Magazine Beach Park, along the Charles River, across from school on the other side of Memorial Drive

 

⭐⭐Special Start Families!!

There is a special Morse Marathon for our littlest Morsels.

When: Friday, October 27, 2023

Where: Morse School Garden

 

How to Donate:

👟 Cash/Checks can be dropped at the Morse School front office (make out checks to Friends of the Morse School

👟 Credit card via this website

👟 Our stretch fundraising goal is $10,000 for this event. We raised about $10,000 for the last Morse Marathon, smashing our $8,000 goal; we can do it again! Every dollar we raise goes back to the Morse School community, paying for things like: 

• Classroom stipends
• Field trips
• International Festival
• Providing snacks and drinks at family and community events
• Staff appreciation week
• Family support
• School beautification initiatives
• Special speakers
• and much more (come to a meeting for the infamous money minute)

 

Volunteering: we need 25 to 35 volunteers to staff the event, keeping students on the course, making sure water is available, helping them around the inevitable giant mud puddles, etc. 

 

The Morse Marathon

The Morse Marathon is an annual school-wide fun run/walk that takes place at Magazine Beach Park along the Charles River. The event, which is organized by parents and teachers, is aimed at promoting fitness and community. It also helps to raise funds for the Friends of the Morse School, a volunteer organization of parents and caregivers that supports enriching learning experiences for the Morse students. Staff and students from every grade level - Junior Kindergarten through Grade 5 - participate in the event. 

 

The Fall 2022 Morse Marathon was a absolutely amazing! Some kids ran the whole time. Some ran + walked. Some skipped. Some held hands. A few slipped in the mud, especially during the first shift. All proudly displayed their colorful Morse School bandanas (a gift from FMS) and seemed to enjoy the event. Lots of smiles!

 

The community support was overwhelming - we had more volunteers than we knew what to do with, and the course was lined with folks cheering on our Morse students. AND we achieved our fundraising goal.

 

Please help us reach this year's fundraising goal of $10,000. Whether $5 or $500, $10 or $1,000, every bit helps. To learn more about the Friends of the Morse School, keep perusing our website!

 

Want to stay up-to-date with FMS events and activities?

• Contact us: hello@friendsofmorse.org

• Social media: @FriendsOfTheMorseSchool on Facebook and Instagram

• Email list sign up

• Calendar

 

Signing up is free and we don't collect dues; all donations are optional and appreciated. Our website and emails are available in any language supported by Google Translate. We send emails just once a week (usually).