Music blaring and spirits high, Syracuse Elementary School students have been taking turns walking, skipping and running around a track on the school’s lawn today in the hopes of raising a significant amount of money for the American Cancer Society.

As of noon this afternoon, the Walkathon had already raised $8,800 for the cause, says organizer and fourth grade teacher, Kim Jones.

“We never fathomed it would go so well,” said Jones. “It’s wonderful.”

Kim Jones

Each classroom went outside to walk for 30 minutes during the day. The students have been collecting pledges from the community for the past few weeks. For every $10 in pledges, that student’s name went into a drawing for raffle prizes, which were donated by community members.

“This will ensure that all the money brought in by the students will go directly to the American Cancer Society,” said Jones. “The enthusiasm for this event has been amazing. It has been a fun-filled day.”

Aaliyah Hire and Lucy Rensberger

Each classroom had been encouraged to come up with a class “theme” such as crazy hats, a certain colored clothing, etc. The classroom with the best theme and the classroom with the most money raised will receive a prize. The top fundraising students in each class will also receive an extra recess.