After the 5K in 2016 - Sacred Hearts 2nd year of GOTR. We reached out to all GOTR girls and coaches in Yankton, old and new to walk in the homecoming parade this year! As you see we had a BIG turn out!!!! “Girls on the Run is #1 - Girls on the Run is so much FUN!” The girls being celebrated after the practice 5K in October 2017 at Sacred Heart. It was a VERY COLD and WINDY day, but they all finished with a smile!!! The Sacred Heart GOTR getting ready for their 5K in November. Doctorman, an assistant professor of economics at Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb., went on to participate in GOTR from 2011-2014 while living in Alaska. After moving back to the area, Doctorman continued her involvement at both Webster and Lincoln Elementary Schools. So what convinced Doctorman to become involved despite her initial hesitancy? “The women I met at the training were so amazing and the GOTR program was unbelievable,” said Doctorman. “By the end of the day, I had committed to anything and everything I could related to GOTR. I was a shy, timid girl in elementary school, and on the morning of that training, I realized that there was still a piece of that within me. I realized instantly that this program was for my third grade self as well as my adult self.” While Doctorman had run a few races before her participation with GOTR, she was not an avid runner. “The biggest misunderstanding about GOTR is that you need to love running,” Doctorman said. “You do not. You just need to love being yourself.” Running, as fellow coach and Yankton High School Counselor Amy Reyes discovered, isn’t necessarily the main focus of each session. “When I first became involved, I thought it would be more of a fun after-school activity with different lessons centered around running,” Reyes said. “Once I started coaching, though, I realized it was so much more than that. GOTR teaches so many valuable life lessons and provides many opportunities for the girls to learn and practice new skills and find their strength in who they are as people.” Bobbi Jo Aune, who works at the Yankton Federal Prison Camp and most recently coached at Sacred Heart School, is quick to agree. “With each empowering lesson, the girls will be able to take what they learn and be (stronger) – both physically and emotionally,” said Aune. “They will be better friends. They learn to stick up to peer pressure and bullies.” These lessons engage participants and evoke strong and unexpected responses from the girls. Doctorman offered an example from her most recent season last fall. She was leading a lesson about advertising and showed examples of magazine ads to the girls. Doctorman started to discuss how advertising often portrays girls and women in an unrealistic light. Before she could get her point across, the girls had taken over the conversation. “It was not just one girl but almost all of them stating that the ads they see are unrealistic and that beauty lies within yourself,” said Doctorman. “This was coming from third to fifth grade girls and they were saying it with such confidence. As an adult woman, I still need to hear these things no matter how confident I may feel about who I am and how I look.” That moment, said Doctorman, was extremely moving. “I had never had an entire group of girls say so many powerful things during that vGIRLS ON THE RUN continued on page 23 ring! Start planning this years’ summer projects! hink Sp T NATURESCAPING DESIGNS ( LANDSCAPING | PROPERTY CARE | HOLIDAY DECORATING ) CALL US TODAY 605.661.1205 NATURESCAPINGDESIGNS.COM LAURAWNSD@GMAIL.COM HERVOICEvMARCH/APRIL 2018v11