Almost 1,500 students from both Red Deer Public Schools and Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools took part in Go Girl and Grow Boys May 16th, one-day events targeting Grade 5 students.

Go Girl, in its 15th year, saw over 780 girls participate in a variety of group and individual physical activities in hopes that they will continue to lead active and healthy lifestyles.

“Every girl got to experience four different sessions on how being active and healthy is important for their mental and physical wellness,” said Denise Fredeen, one of the committee members of the Go Girl event.

Fredeen added that the students got to experience a bunch of different activities ranging from kickboxing to swimming to how to control their breath with heart math and mindfulness.

The Grow Boys event, in its 7th year, also targeted around 780 students and provided a number of sessions addressing the concepts of HOPE, which stands for health, opportunity, privilege and education.

“We want the boys to learn that they can take action towards their own hopeful future and experience some new things and realize that there are people in the world that are willing to come and spend the day with them and help them learn something new, meet new people and have some fun at the same time,” said Sean Grainger, vice principal at Joseph Welsh Elementary School.

Also participating in the two events were high school students, who acted as mentors, some who even took part when they were in Grade 5.

Lee Merry, a Grade 9 student at Lindsay Thurber High School, was one of those mentors who also took part in Go Girl when she was in Grade 5.

“It introduced me to a lot of new sports and got me more into the world of trying new things and I met a lot of friends then, some of who I’m still friends with now,” she said.

She added that taking part in the event as a mentor has been a really great experience.