Taylor R Kvilhaug
| Taylor R Kvilhaug |
Kvilhaug, Taylor R
University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, Department of Preventive and Restorative Sciences, Division of Community Oral Health
Students Run Philly Style is a mentorship program that partners middle school and high school students with adults to help train and prepare for long distance running. The program helps the students develop goal setting skills while also enhancing socializing abilities and mental resilience. For the first part of the program I worked with Danny who is in charge of the background work. He has worked for several organizations before but has made it very clear, that Students Run Philly Style has been the most rewarding program to work with thus far. Danny was able to really give me a better understanding of just how impactful this program can be for kids developing into young adults. He has described this program as being one that students can turn to as a way to get both healthy physical activity and additional life guidance. What I found very interesting when I first started is that the students who join and run in this program, are usually not what people would generally consider athletic. Instead, the majority of the students who participate are the ones that just need something to do to stay active, to have some type of after school activity and camaraderie.
Project OverviewThere were several goals that I had this summer, but they all revolved around improving the program and doing a lot of busy work that the organization did not usually have the time to tackle.
OutcomeThe success of these projects was not only beneficial individually, but also collectively allowed the adults running the program the ability to focus on the kids receiving the most out of the online adaptation this summer, while also getting a fresh outside perspective from myself. Students Run Philly Style was a great organization to work for, and even though we were limited to stay-at-home online contributions, the completion of these tasks will help the program now and for years to come.