LINCOLN -- More than 100 students from Lincoln Middle School will head to Dallas on Friday morning for a private tour of the Cowboy's stadium, to compete in an obstacle course race, eat dinner and return home by 2 a.m. the next day.
The students will participate in The Spartan Race at AT&T Stadium and the trip is being sponsored in part by the Spartan Foundation.
This is the first time the Foundation has set up a private event for a school group, said Diane Stokes, educational consultant for the Spartan Foundation. She said a Spartan Race obstacle course will be held the next day at AT&T Stadium and the Foundation is allowing Lincoln students to go through it early by themselves.
Stokes gives credit for the idea to Stan Karber, Lincoln Middle School assistant principal, and said Karber is an "awesome advocate" for his students.
Karber, for his part, said he just asked the question, thinking the worst outcome would be no.
Karber participated in a Spartan Race with his children and thought he would like for a group of students to have the same experience.
"What an amazing place," Karber said. "I just sent an email and just asked. And Diane kinda put me in contact with the founder of the Spartan Race and they have all been amazing and said, 'yes, let's do this.'"
Karber said the day was put together and the community has supported it.
The highlight of the trip, Karber said, is for the students to participate in a Spartan obstacle course.
"Obstacle course racing is an absolute metaphor for life," Karber said. "You run, climb, jump, fall, get back up, help someone else up and when it gets tough and you want to quit, just keep going."
This is teaching kids to train, get physically fit and feel like they are part of a team, he said.
Stokes said Spartan Foundation has a curriculum program called the Spartan Edge, which uses principles that can be implemented in the classroom. Karber received training in the Spartan Edge and then turned around and used that with his students, Stokes added.
The principles are designed to help students have resilience and grit to achieve difficult goals.
To prepare for the race, students have worked out on their own and participated in training at school. The last training session was held during the school's annual field day on May 26. At the end of the field day, students lined up to run, slide in mud, do squats, jumping jacks and crawls.
Colt Cushing, 10, is one of the students going on the trip and he said he has been working out at home to get ready for the obstacle course. His exercises include 10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 squarts and 10 burpees, Colt said.
In addition to the physical training, students have discussed other life lessons, Colt said.
"We talked about being nice and not to be rude. To encourage others and help others," he said.
He's excited about the trip and, besides the obstacle course, said he's looking forward to seeing the football stadium and maybe possibly, meeting some of the Dallas Cowboys.
Stokes said participants in the course will encounter obstacles that include climbing over walls and running between seats.
"There are usually things to carry and they will do a lot of stairs," Stokes said. "We use a lot of parts of the stadium."
The course will be one-half mile to one-mile long, depending on the age of the children. It will take most kids 45 minutes to an hour to complete the course and part of the race is helping others along the way.
"That's the beauty of it," Stokes said.
"It's super exciting that the Spartan Foundation and Lincoln are all coming together to make this happen for these kids," she said. "A lot has to go on to make this happen."
Karber said he knows the students who participate will remember the day.
"If you've ever gone on something like this, that's what you'll remember, that teamwork and that camaraderie. I just want them to experience something like that."
Spartan Race Inc., started in 2010 and is one of the most popular obstacle-race series in the world. Today, there are about 200 races each year in more than 30 countries. The obstacles are meant to represent trials in life and help participants to realize they can overcome these trials.
General News on 06/07/2017