Friday afternoon the Huntingburg Elementary School R.I.D.G.E. program and the Huntingburg Teen Outback presented the SuperHero Family Fun Race, a 1.5 mile run and walk event. There were over 100 participants of all ages who embraced the challenge run by dressing as their favorite superhero. The run initiated behind the Huntingburg Teen Outback center going into a near neighborhood and finishing the race back where it started.
Southridge Middle School 8th grader, Jaffet Cruz, won 1st place in the race as he ran from start to finish. Cruz is the same Southridge student who became this years winner of the 2016 Tri-State Spelling Bee back in February. He says he was excited and surprised when he won the spelling bee in February as he didn’t think he was going to win. Cruz runs cross country and track as well as basketball for his school.
After the race all runners demonstrated their appreciation to the local heros such as the Huntingburg Police Officers, Firefighters, and EMS.
Later on at the event the best child hero custom prize went to Lillian Thewes as supergirl, best adult hero custom went to Kathy Tooley as SuperMom, and best family hero prize went to Tiffany Pain, Cody Putnam, and their child Marley Putnam as the IronMan Family. Kathy Tooley is a 2nd grade teacher at Huntingburg Elementary and is a supporter of Teen Outback as her children attend their events. Tooley’s daughter Mallory came up with the idea for her SuperMom hero custom.
Huntingburg Elementary RIDGE Assistant Director Leslie Denu, and Teen Outback-Youth Director, April Blessinger elaborate on the co-sponsorship efforts they accomplished for this event.
Teen Outback is one of the community partners within the RIDGE program outreach. Their collaborations are efficient in providing a social outlet atmosphere for the youth. Denu describes why events like these have an impact on the community.
Teen Outback is open twice a month once for 3rd-5th grades and once for 6th-8th grades providing a wide variety of fun activities and themed functions. The Huntingburg Ridge program is an after-school program and preschool program who is currently taking enrollment registrations for their summer programs.
The Superhero Fun Run event continued with indoor & outdoor activities, games, and Sandy Trusty volunteered her time with face-painting.
