Nations community commemorated the School’s fortieth anniversary taking on a bold challenge: running 14,600 kilometers
Staying active is essential not only for our physical well-being but also for our emotional and mental health. Physical activity is even more important today because many of us are spending more time in front of the computer and, as a result, are a lot less active. To encourage the school community to have a healthier lifestyle and promote physical, emotional, and mental health, the Physical Education department launched the project ‘Nations in Movement.’
What is ‘Nations in Movement’?
From School of the Nations’ inauguration on September 1, 1980, to its 40th anniversary on September 1, 2020, 14,600 days had passed. To honor our journey, we challenged members of our community to travel 14,600 km together.
Students, staff, parents, and friends had 40 days, from November 7 through December 16, to complete the task. They could do any activity that allowed them to track the distance they traveled. The goal was to get our community up and moving.
In precisely forty days, we ran, walked, swam, and skated our way to the finish line! Together, we met our goal. We traveled 14,600 kilometers!
Among more than one hundred participants, two students stood out. Luís Felipe Tognolo (Grade 9) and Bruna Pires (Grade 12) logged the most distance traveled. Congratulations to everyone who stayed active and logged their distance over the course of the event.
Everyone gets to run
In addition to the benefits of physical activity proposed by Nations in Movement, another objective of the project is to raise awareness of the difficulties many young athletes face when practicing sports - one of them being having to train barefoot. To address this issue, we collected and donated tennis shoes to children in the project Clube dos Descalços, in Recanto das Emas, Brasilia.
Clube dos Descalços is a social service project in Recanto das Emas that offers a safe space for children and teenagers to practice physical activities, take running classes, and train. Founded by former runner Manoel Evaristo Neto, the project aims to use sport as a bridge for young people in vulnerable communities to be part of society.
“Sports are incredible means for social inclusion. People think running is a solitary activity, but not here, not for us. We run together.” – Manoel Evaristo Neto.
Before the pandemic, Manoel Neto had helped over eighty teenagers.
To enable young athletes to take running classes and exercise in comfort and safety, we collected and donated over seventy pairs of tennis shoes to Clube dos Descalços. On November 15, Manoel Evaristo Neto received our donations. He will distribute the sneakers to young athletes in Recanto das Emas.