They will be running, climbing, jumping, crawling, and making their way through mud, all to benefit kids in the classroom.
On this episode of the Supercast, we dive into the Jordan Education Foundation’s Challenge Obstacle Run which is being held on Saturday, May 14 at Veterans Memorial Park in West Jordan. Find out why it has become one of the most popular obstacle runs in the state resulting in fun for families and a big win for teachers in Jordan School District.
Audio Transcription
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They will be running, climbing, jumping, crawling, and making their way through mud, all to benefit kids in the classroom. On this episode of the Supercast, we dive into the Jordan Education Foundations Challenge Obstacle Run, which is being held on Saturday, May 14th at Veterans Memorial Park in West Jordan. Find out why it has become one of the most popular obstacle runs in the state resulting in fun for families and a big win for teachers in Jordan School District.
We are fortunate to have the director of the Jordan Education Foundation here, Mike Haynes. Mike, how are you doing?
Mike Haynes:
Well, thank you. Great to be here.
Anthony Godfrey:
You're always doing well.
Mike Haynes:
Well, thank you.
Anthony Godfrey:
And it's always great to be wherever you are. You're always so positive and ready to go. And we have Jason Casto, the past past president of the Jordan Education Foundation and longtime contributor and foundation board member. Thanks for joining us.
Jason Casto:
I'm glad to be here.
Anthony Godfrey:
Two of the most positive, energetic people I know, and I'm not exaggerating. And I know a lot of positive, energetic people.
Jason Casto:
I agree with you. It always is nice to be where Mike is at.
Anthony Godfrey:
That's right. You’re both so energized and happy because you get to do so many great things for kids and for teachers and for the employees of our district.
Jason Casto:
You’re right.
Anthony Godfrey:
One of the ways you accomplish that as a Foundation is through the Challenge Run.
Jason Casto:
Absolutely. The Challenge Run.
Anthony Godfrey:
It's one of the ways that we mark time. You know, one of those markers is that as spring comes, I know that the Challenge Run is approaching. It's something I always look forward to and we haven't been able to do it with COVID getting in the way. This is really an exciting thing that we're back in business.
Jason Casto:
Yeah. Two year hiatus. We're so excited to be back.
Anthony Godfrey:
We see people of all ages participate. Talk to me about who can come to this event and enjoy it.
Jason Casto:
Yeah. So I do wanna say very strongly right out of the gate that sometimes people hear an obstacle course and they think, all right, I'm out. You know, they might think of some of the extreme sports that we see kind of in our communities or on TVs. And this is not that. This is not the kind of obstacle course that you have to train for. We want to give people the idea of doing something fun. Doing something a little different, not your typical 5k or one mile walk or that type of thing. A little bit different, but not so intense that you feel like, all right, I have to have a training regimen going in. Anybody can do this. It's for the whole entire family. We say, you know, eight and up, but all in all honesty, we've had as young as a parent carrying their child in a little harness on their chest. And so we want everyone to feel welcome. You can really engage with the obstacles or hey, if this happens to be one that you don't want to go through the mud pit, you can go around the mud pit.
Anthony Godfrey:
I think Brené Brown, that's a quote from Brené Brown.
Jason Casto:
That’s it exactly.
Anthony Godfrey:
You can go through the mud pit or around it. I don't know something like that. Yeah, there really is an ability for people of all ages, and athletic ability to really enjoy it. You can, like you said, you can decide how much you engage with various obstacles. And there's a lot of work that goes into setting up a really exciting course. And so it is a challenge run. You challenge yourself and see how much you can get out of yourself in this run. And that's part of the fun of it.
Jason Casto:
Yeah. Maybe I can describe a little bit some of the things that they're gonna go through. So the run is done at Veterans Memorial Park in West Jordan, and it incorporates the whole entire park, including the rodeo grounds. The rodeo grounds and that area back there is kind of where most of the obstacles are.
Anthony Godfrey:
Is bull riding a part of it, or have we eliminated that?
Mike Haynes:
That's a good idea.
Jason Casto:
We had that on the table and it just slightly got voted down.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. All right. Fair enough. Fair enough.
Jason Casto:
So some of the things that you'll do is there's the before mentioned mud pit. We always have a mud pit that people, you know, kind of tredge themselves through. Then inside the rodeo grounds, there are a whole bunch of cement barricades. So there's kind of a high hurdling of cement barricades. There's a sandbag carry where you gotta pick up sandbag and carry it kind of down and back. There's an army crawl. So crawling underneath the army net, which is super, super fun. Then we go inside where the cattle are normally held during the rodeo. And we kind of do a zigzag through there. We have a spiders web worth of rope that we tie. So you have to kind of wind yourself and weave yourself through there. There's some climbing underneath the bleachers. There is the Superman water slide towards the end where you get a running start and with the aid of water and soap, slide all the way down the hill. That's a highlight both from a fun standpoint and from a picture standpoint.
Mike Haynes:
Yes, there's where our highlights come from.
Jason Casto:
Our best pictures come from that, unquestionably.
Anthony Godfrey:
And we've had a drone taking pictures if I’m not mistaken.
Jason Casto:
Yes, indeed. We have, again this year, we’ll have several drones that will be there taking pictures of the whole event.
Anthony Godfrey:
So we’ll be well documented.
Jason Casto:
Well documented, absolutely.
Anthony Godfrey:
We want to have everything up front. Okay. After the slip and slide, sorry, I interrupted your rundown of the obstacle course.
Jason Casto:
Well, we finish with a 120 foot long blowup obstacle that people kind of jump and climb through, which is a fun way to finish towards the finish line. There's a couple of other things in the back area, way out in the back fields, where you stop at a station and you use a sledge hammer to break a brick. I mean, hey, when do you get a chance to do that? Everyone wants to swing a sledge hammer.
Anthony Godfrey:
So if there's any anxiety or frustration in your life, this will cure it.
Jason Casto:
Yeah. You hear about the rage rooms where you gotta go, you know, and pay some money to bust a computer up. Hey, you could do this and a bunch of other stuff.
Anthony Godfrey:
And, and if you feel like your kids are getting too much screen time, get 'em out into the challenge run.
Jason Casto:
Exactly. And after the break brick with the sledge hammer, there's also a station where you stop and you use a slingshot and a paintball to hit a target. I mean, just fun stuff.
Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back, find out why participants will also be dancing the day away to great music as I DJ the event. More fun with the Jordan Education Foundation coming up next.
Break:
Hello, I'm Stacee Worthen, Secondary Counseling Specialist for Jordan School District. Do you know all the ways Jordan School District counselors can help you and your students? School counselors play such an important role in our schools. They provide parents with resources to help guide their children in academics. They provide support with the mental and social well being of students in our schools. And if you are in the process of preparing a student for college, or just beginning the conversation of higher education, now is the perfect time to reach out to your child counselor. We can assist with college applications and college readiness. I encourage parents and guardians to schedule an appointment and get to know your student's counselor. Together, counselors and parents can help develop plans and strategies for students to succeed long after they leave Jordan School District. Reach out! We're always here to help. You can find us and learn more at counseling.jordandistrict.org.
Anthony Godfrey:
I do have a role in the challenge that I'm quite proud of.
Jason Casto:
Yes.
Anthony Godfrey:
And that is I get to DJ the event. I assume that I'm on the docket again this year?
Jason Casto:
We also assumed that, so I'm glad to hear that. If the official invitation hasn't been extended, consider it officially extended.
Anthony Godfrey:
No, I'm planning on it. I've been working on my classic rock playlist with some new tunes for the kids as well. You know, what all the youngsters are listening to these days. But yeah, I like to mix it up and create a good sonic environment in which to challenge yourself and to complete the run. I like making people listen to the music I choose, really is what it comes down to.
Jason Casto:
Yeah. That classic rock list. That’s my favorite part of it.
Anthony Godfrey:
And I know Mike's penchant for RATT and other, you know, hair bands from the 80s.
Mike Haynes:
Anything where an air guitar is appropriate.
Anthony Godfrey:
My real goal is when I put a song on and then I watch for the groups of teenagers and see that I'm getting a reaction.
Jason Casto:
That's fun. That's when you know you've hit the mark.
Anthony Godfrey:
Ultimately, then the next song is for Mike. When he breaks into air guitar then I know I've hit my mark once again for the range of audience. But it really is fun. And, as I mentioned, the group of teenagers, there are teams that can be formed and schools can form teams. So tell us about how that works.
Jason Casto:
Yeah, that really defines the structure of the race. Remember the point is to get money into classrooms for teachers and students. So the way that we do it is we have teachers sign up, teachers do it for free. So teachers are given a code so that they can create a team for free. So when they sign up, they create a team. A school can create a team, or a single teacher can create a team, or a group of teachers can create a team. And then as the community in general starts to sign up for the race, they are required to select a team. So someone might say, ‘Oh, I would like to select a team of, you know, Herriman High School or South Jordan Middle School. Or they are joining because some specific teacher has said, ‘Come and participate, come help me get money for my classroom.’ Then they'll join that specific teacher's team. And so we definitely do it all around teams. The bigger the team, the bigger the grant that the teacher gets. So that's our goal for teachers to build as big of teams as possible. The school that has the highest participation, whatever school by a percentage has more participation than any other, they're the big winner. They're the Challenge champions. They get a trophy. We have a traveling trophy every year. The winner gets their name on the side of the plaque and the big trophy. And they get a $2,500 grant for their school.
Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic! That can make a big difference for a school.
Jason Casto:
Yeah, absolutely.
Anthony Godfrey:
And all of the money that comes from the challenge run goes to schools and to teachers. All of that is distributed.
Jason Casto:
Yeah, absolutely. All the money that comes in is distributed to the teachers for their classroom grants.
Anthony Godfrey:
Now as a runner in the event, you receive prizes. We have great sponsors that are there after the event. Great food. As DJ I expend a lot of energy.
Jason Casto:
And you need to replenish that energy.
Anthony Godfrey:
I need yogurt. I need sparkling colorful beverages. And all of those are available. Talk a little bit about that. And there's a shirt. So what do people get besides the sense of community and the chance to challenge themselves?
Jason Casto:
When you sign up, you do get a shirt, and so you're asked for your shirt size. So everyone will get a Challenge Obstacle Run shirt. And then, just as you mentioned, there are a lot of businesses that wanna participate and be part of this. So every year we have many that are there that are giving away freebies to the runners. We will have Chick-fil-A there that will be giving away breakfast sandwiches. Other places will be there, like in the past we've had In-N-Out Burger. Because after the race, there's kind of a festival atmosphere. There's rock climbing walls and trampolines. And we have mascots from the various Utah sports teams and from the various high schools. And so there's a lot of activity going on there. Things like face painting and then the different businesses will be there giving away free food. And so always things like ice cream, like Creamies and Fat Boys and Dannon and Pepsi have both been big sponsors in the past and will be this year, providing drinks, free drinks, you know, other types of treats and food. And no one goes away hungry.
Anthony Godfrey:
I remember hearing from runners over the years that this was the best event for the after run swag and food and everything else. I remember I got a phone case from Mike Haynes. We had a booth with all these phone cases that a vendor had donated. You just never know what you're gonna find. I spun the wheel at the In-N-Out booth and got a little sippy cup thing.
Jason Casto:
You definitely will come away with a big, you know, haul of swag from this event.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yes, you'll have to have some energy left to carry everything to the car that you end up with after your race. So do folks sign up for the race.
Jason Casto:
So if you'll go to J E F challenge, so J E F for the Jordan Education Foundation, JEFchallenge.org that will direct you right to the signup. It’s super easy to sign up, a very simple process. Enter your information and then select your team and you are ready to go.
Anthony Godfrey:
We'll include all of this information in the show notes as well, but tell us date, time, location and then that web address again.
Jason Casto:
Yeah. So JEFchallenge.org. It's May 14th. So we're about three weeks away. So Saturday, May 14th, we start at 9:00 AM. The run lasts for about an hour. We kind of stagger start times. Most people get through the course in about, you know, 30 to 45 minutes. And then from about 10, 10:30 to noon, that's kind of the festival after. It's in West Jordan City at Veterans Memorial park. The address of that is 1985 West 7800 South. So basically on the south west corner of Redwood Road and 7800 South.
Anthony Godfrey:
And what does it cost to sign up?
Jason Casto:
It's $20 to sign up. When you sign up, you get the aforementioned stuff that we talked about, all that good stuff. And you also are given the opportunity if you have someone in your network that can't participate or can do more than just simply sign up, every teacher who creates a team is given a fundraising team as well. And we encourage and ask for people to also do donations. So hey, you can come and run and have a great time to support your teacher. And you can also do a donation that will go directly to that teacher as well. And it's just a nice, simple way to do it. The whole signup process, you can contribute and sign up all the same site, very simple.
Anthony Godfrey:
And one of the things that I've always been so impressed with is the amount of effort that the Foundation puts behind this. When you described all those obstacles, that's the Foundation putting together this route, putting together everything that you've described, but you also visit every school to talk with the faculty and to be sure that they know about creating a team and how they can make this a fundraising event for their school or, or for their grade level.
Jason Casto:
So one of the things we love, it gets us into all the schools. As board members of the Foundation, our goal is to be visible and be in the schools. And so we try to do that all year. This event is another, you know, chance to be there. And that is true. We have been in a faculty meeting at almost every single school in the District, letting them know about it. If you happen to be listening to this as a teacher and you missed our faculty event or were not there, please consider this your reminder about it. And if you use Teacher2022 as a code, that's your code to sign up for free.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, great. So the code is out there.
Jason Casto:
Cheat code out. Cheat code out.
Anthony Godfrey:
It’s been revealed. Our listeners get all kinds of perks, that's just one more perk that they get. I just want to reemphasize that about the Foundation. The Foundation is made up of community members, business owners, people who are just interested in helping the District. Some have kids in the District, some don't, and it's just a desire to help lift teachers, lift students, lift our employees and help provide support. And it's very, very inspiring. One of the most rewarding things that I do is to get to associate with Foundation members and see the dedication that they put into our District. It shows how important Jordan District is to the community. And it shows what a great community we have to provide us that level of support year after year, day in and day out. And it means the world. So thank you.
Jason Casto:
Well, thank you, absolutely. That, that perfectly, what you said describes me. I had children that all went to the school district and I wanted to be a part and a contributor. And you know, that was 13 years ago. I particularly had one teacher that made a miracle of a difference in one of my son's lives. And I thought, how can I give back? My kids are all grown now and have long stopped being in school, but I love the District and want to help. And there's a lot of people like me. There's other people that aren't on the Board, that are actively engaged in their school. And every year we are out and people get involved and then they ask, what can I do next year? Our committee and those who are participating just continue to grow because there's a lot of people who love teachers and students and want help.
Anthony Godfrey:
And it's like you said, it's based on those miracles that happen because a teacher cared about a child and went the distance to help them no matter what it took. And like you said, there are many, many people out there who want to help and it's inspiring to see the Foundation continue to support us as they do. So thank you for that. Give us the web address just one more time, Mike.
Mike Haynes:
So JEFchallenge.org
Anthony Godfrey:
To everybody out there, sign up, become a part of it. It's a blast. It's a great way to give back. And it won't feel like you're giving back because you get every bit of value out of that $20. It's a great morning for you. And just mention that you listened to the Supercast, come up and find me. I'll play your song for you. After I play Mike's hair metal for him. There you go.
Mike Haynes:
There you go.
Anthony Godfrey:
I gotta take care of him first, but you're next. Come talk with me and we'll get your song on. Thanks again for taking the time and thanks for everything you do for the foundation.
Mike Haynes:
Thanks for having us.
Jason Casto:
Thank you.
Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks again for joining us on the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.