VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Olivia Goddard, a third grader at Alanton Elementary in Virginia Beach, won the top prize for this year’s Shamrock Marathon t-shirt contest.
“The Shamrock is related to St. Patrick’s Day, so I drew a Shamrock, and I wanted him to look tired and stronger after running,” she said.
Five thousand elementary school students from Hampton Roads will wear a t-shirt with Olivia’s design.
“I’m excited and impressed that thousands of people are going to be wearing my artwork,” she said.
Out of 200 designs submitted from schools all over Hampton Roads, Olivia’s won. But an award is not why she runs the race.
“I’m doing this because I like to run and I like to raise money for Operation Smile so they can help kids fix their cleft lips and palates,” she said.
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Kids like schoolmate Farryn Kaley, who was born with a cleft palate. She knows firsthand how important corrective surgery is.
“It feels like I’m welcome here, and people are really nice to me once they know my story,” Farryn said.
“Farryn is our rock star here at Alanton, who was born with a cleft lip, so it’s been really cool to see her come out of her shell,” said Wendy DeMartini, the PE teacher.
For the past 18 years, DeMartini has led the program for Alanton students who want to lace up their sneakers for the marathon's Operation Smile Shamrock Final Mile.
“We have a running program here at Alanton called Miles for Smiles, where the children run once a week; they run a mile,” she said.
“When they run again at the oceanfront all together, they will have completed an entire marathon,” DeMartini added.
Alanton has 221 students running the final mile, and 29 of them are running the 8K.
“They sign up for the Final Mile because they know they are helping kids that still don’t have it fixed,” DeMartini said.
This year, the Alanton effort has raised $5,000 to benefit Operation Smile.
Alanton Elementary students and teachers, with a focus on fitness and a heart for helping, are positively Hampton Roads.
