MERCER COUNTY 20 Reynolds students join Girls on the Run

Dealing with issues as drugs, gossip and emotional health are combined with an emphasis on physical well-being.
TRANSFER, Pa. -- Twenty Reynolds Elementary School girls between the ages of 9 and 12 are participating in a program to help prepare them for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living.
It's called Girls on the Run and it's sponsored by the Womancare Center of UPMC Horizon and Magee-Women's Hospital.
First to enroll: It's a national program for girls in grades three through six and the Reynolds students are the first in Mercer County to enroll.
"Our goal is to organize a Girls on the Run program at every school in our region," said Susan Riley of UPMC Horizon, coach/coordinator for the program.
Reynolds offered to be the first site, she said.
The pupils meet twice a week to train for a 5K run/walk and participate in warm-ups and workouts, but athletics is only one part of the program.
There are also games dealing with such issues as drugs and alcohol, gossip and physical and emotional health.
Program's purpose: The purpose is to help young women develop positive self-images, Riley said, noting that games, discussion and physical workouts combine to enhance self-esteem and advance emotional, social, mental and physical development.
"Girls and women are surrounded daily with false images of physical beauty that erroneously convey that self-worth is measured by appearance alone," said Kimberly Lombardi, director of the Womancare Center.
"Girls on the Run helps young girls to learn to measure their self-worth in a more healthy manner before they enter their difficult teen years," she said.
The program was created by Molly Barker, a triathlete, and designed so participants set and achieve personal goals and learn to like themselves for who they are.
The program at Reynolds began April 3 and will end with a banquet June 5.