Lance Middle School students raise over $37,000 in first walk

Londyn Davis, front, and Laila Castro slide down an inflatable slide with a friend between them during the Lance Middle School Walk-A-Thon Tuesday morning. The sixth graders were treated to the slide, among other inflatables, after raising the most money for the event.

Lance Middle School seventh and eighth grade students participate in the school's Walk-A-Thon Tuesday morning.

Lance Middle School sixth grade students, from left to right, Natalia Troha, Maelle Herrmann, Khloe Kruse, Liliana Kadamin and Sophia Giese walk together during the Lance Walk-A-Thon Tuesday morning.

Lance students set up "campsites," such as the one pictured to the right, which was decorated by the "Hula Gurls" team. Sixth Graders Elizabeth Fonk, Madelyn Schmitz, Olive Gaddy and Sophie Mucklin comprised the Hula Gurls team.

Kylie Holmes, a Lance Middle School sixth-grader, smiles as she begins to dismount from the inflatable slide at the Lance Walk-A-Thon Tuesday.

Despite the cloudy, slightly rainy Tuesday morning, Lance Middle School students made the best of their triannual Walk-A-Thon. It included inflatables, concessions and, of course, walking around the track.

The tradition started in 2008 after seventh grade students learned about malaria in science class. They later raised $23,000 to donate to a charity that provides mosquito nets.

Since then, every three years, Lance students reach out to community members to support a charitable cause chosen and voted on by the students. This year was the school's first Walk-A-Thon since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year's recipient was Alex's Lemonade Stand, which is a charitable organization focused on cancer research and supporting families with a child who has cancer. Students raised $37,325.10, with more funds from concessions and proceeds from the Kona Ice truck to be added into that total.

During the fundraising process, the sixth, seventh and eighth grade classes competed in a contest for who could raise the most for the event. In the end, the sixth grade class was victorious with a total of $15,445.68.

"It's our highest total ever," said Lance Middle School Instructional Technology Teacher Melissa Kearby. "Which is exciting since we haven't done this in four years. It started out not so great and ended up blowing us away."

As a reward, sixth graders were able to enjoy inflatable slides and other entertainment during the event.

"(My favorite part) is that everyone is having fun," said sixth-grader Easton Steiner.

Students in all grades had the opportunity to form their own teams, create team costumes and set up "campsites" with decorated tents and enjoy walking on the track and grass track.

Team "Hula Gurls," comprised of Elizabeth Fonk, Madelyn Schmitz, Olive Gaddy and Sophie Mucklin, decorated their tent with a tropical theme.

"We thought it would be a fun theme for summer," Schmitz said.

Kearby said the community support was "amazing."

"We had donations online ... we had many businesses call and say ‘How can we help?’" Kearby said. "Overall, the Kenosha and Lance community really stepped up, and we’re hoping that the kids feel that support behind them for their efforts."

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