Spotlight on Christy Neff

Christy Neff, a physical education teacher at University Park Elementary School, was one of the key organizers of the , a series of races and celebration of the city’s birthday hosted Saturday in the area around UPES.

Neff, who has been at UPES for six years, starting taking a bigger role in organizing the about two years ago.  When another P.E. teacher who had been more involved retired, she stepped up to fill the position.

“My primary role happens before the event,” she explained.  “I work to get the teachers involved, and with the teachers, we're able to get the students involved, and with the students come parents, and so forth, so it's kind of this snowball effect.  We work to get as many people here as we can just for the fundraiser.”

Getting the school and community involved takes more than just distributing flyers.  UPES held a spirit week featuring “Dress Like a Runner” Day and “Dress Like an Azalea” Day. Students also had an opportunity to donate shoes to an organization in Zambia with “What Shoe Doing On Saturday?” Day. 

Students also got some training for the physical element of the race through running exercises in gym class that were equivalent to the lengths of some of the races.

“The kids love it,” Neff said. “Anytime they can be here and see their teachers informally, it's always a great time for us.  They're always excited to run and do fitness sorts of activities and we're really lucky to have good community support.”

On race day, Neff dedicated her time to logistics. “Everything from trash to water to DJ to handing out the awards. Everything, whatever needs to be done.”

She said she was pleased with the way the event turned out.

“The only thing we can’t control is the weather,” she said, “and that behaved itself, so it was a perfect day.”