Juan struggled with his weight and the image of himself growing up, but when he joined SRLA he found a new passion within himself that transformed him into a healthier person, a great student and a great athlete.

We kick of our summer of Senior Stories! This week Valerie shares the story of how hitting the wall during a marathon taught her to push past barrier in all aspects of her life.

What do hilly weekend runs have to do with getting into Ivy league schools? According to David, a lot! Read his blog to learn how running a marathon changed David's approach to school.

…Never give up! Overcome your challenges! Believe in yourself! And most importantly have fun throughout the course!

Throughout the whole pain, they stood with me the whole time. We all suffered together as running the marathon really impacted all three of us.

“The best thing about SRLA is the positive adult-youth relationships. Being a mentor to students has been an honor and rewarding experience.”

This week we celebrated Teacher Appreciation week by collecting and sharing Shout Outs for our SRLA leaders, see some of our favorites in this weeks blog!

“I’ve always looked at myself as an underdog, sometimes not capable of achieving things, but running changed my perspective”

Claudia reflects on her first experience running a marathon, and how the challenges she faced that day and in the following 6 years, have helped her develop the resiliency and determination to become the first person in her family to graduate high school.

“Each Marathon has taught me my strength to overcome different challenges. I have dedicated a lot of my time in training for the marathon and it has benefited me immensely as a student.” Ruby is a senior at Animo Jackie Robinson. Last month she ran her final marathon with SRLA and took some time to share how SRLA has impacted her high school experience.