LATHROP – The River Islands Technology Academy running club is fast-approaching its first major milestone.

The first-year club is comprised of students, staff and family members, who have been building toward their first progressive marathon with 1-mile walk/runs every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon.

Assistant Principal Michelle Crippen, who helped stage a similar event while she worked at Woodward Elementary, said the River Islands Technology Academy Running Club has 170 registered members, many of them students, kindergarten through the seventh grade.

The idea to start the running club was borne from a conversation between administrators, both with extensive running credentials.

Principal Brenda Scholl and Crippen have completed half- and full marathons. The run club, they hoped, would help their students balance out their time spent plugged into a device or computer.

“We thought it would be a great experience for our students, staff and families to work toward a progressive marathon,” Crippen said. “We’re a technology academy, so our students are plugged in. We feel it’s important to be well-rounded – and physical fitness is involved in that.”

The school also received a grant from Sutter Health to help with its mission, “River Islands: Students on the Move.”

The goal is to accumulate 26.2 miles, and members have the option to complete their final miles at school or at the Second Harvest Food Bank’s Hit the Streets for Hunger event on April 11.

Crippen marvels at the commitment from students, staff and their families. There isn’t an enrollment boundary at River Islands, so the campus is a collection of students from across the country. Despite the distance, Crippen says there is dedicated group of mothers who show up every Tuesday and Thursday to walk or jog. Some even push a stroller.

“Our students from all different areas around us,” she added, “so it’s nice to have some community building activities to get to know each other.”

Regardless of where the walkers and runners complete their task, all members of the River Islands Technology Academy Running Club will receive a progressive marathon medal.

The running club is headed up by a committee, featuring its matriarchs Scholl and Crippen. Other members include: Summer Deniz, first grade teacher; Hailey Homen, fifth grade teacher; Sara Kendrick, sixth and seventh grade teacher; and Jarett Heskett, sixth and seventh grade teacher.