The Meridian Public School District is gearing up for its third annual Race for the Future, an event to help students stay in school.
“This is a community project. Anyone can participate. We encourage teachers, janitors, parents, students, anybody from the community to come out. Churches can participate in the race as well,” said Race Coordinator Deidre Bland.
The Race for the Future event will take place this Saturday and starts at Meridian High School at 9 a.m. The event will feature a 5k race, two-mile walk, and one mile fun-run.
Registration is $25 for adults and $15 for students. All proceeds will benefit the district’s Dropout Prevention Program.
“We know that dropout prevention begins in elementary school. Most people think it starts in high school, but it starts as early as elementary. The efforts that are made go towards student retention. Funds in the past have been used for literacy events, also to recognize students who have shown growth in their reading ability because as we know, reading is fundamental. It’s everything, very important,” said Bland.
The district’s last reported graduation rate for the 2015-2016 school year was 72.9%. School officials expect it to improve with the Dropout Prevention Program.
“We would like to see all of the students in our district to be a success because we would like to see them be productive citizens. Therefore, all of the teachers, administrators, we all are working extremely hard to make sure our students are ready to do whatever they choose to do post high school,” said Bland.
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