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Hundreds of LAUSD Students Running LA Marathon Today
Students Run L.A. participants from Hollenbeck Middle School (via SRLA Students site)
Thanks to a program founded in 1995, hundreds of Los Angeles Unified School District students are running around the city today. They're taking part in the 25th Annual LA Marathon via a program for teens called Students Run L.A., which provides at-risk youth with mentoring and training in preparation for today's run. Over 5,000 students have participated since the program began; today you can see them in their bright green bibs running the course. But SRLA is about the big picture--the marathon not the sprint philosophy-which is why the organization provides college scholarships to seniors who complete the marathon, and helps younger students out with things like grants to take SAT prep classes.
Because many of LAUSD's teens have unhealthy eating habits, are overweight, or are at-risk of dropping out, SRLA aims to give these students the "opportunity to create life-long habits of running and staying fit, to connect with their teachers and their schools and increase their chances of finishing high school, and to be involved in supervised after-school activities."
For many of these students, today's marathon is a life-changing experience.
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