The Running for Change Program, led by humanities teacher Isaias Franco, began the year by completing the Road to the Super Bowl 10k race at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on January 10. All seven Running for Change students crossed the finish line in front of a loud, engaged audience, according to Franco.
Franco, who juggles leading Running for Change with his job as a teacher at Tam and a second job at Bridge the Gap College Prep in Marin City, said that the program got off to a slower start this past fall than in previous years.

“I had to sort of re-tool my schedule in order to be able to do both of my jobs and run,” Franco said. “We got started training in November, and I was just looking for something exciting to do in terms of a race and just searching the Internet one day [when] this race popped up. It seemed really exciting, it seemed like it was going to have a lot of participants and that there was this energy of excitement around it.”
Some of the students had originally planned to compete in a 5k race that began before the 10k, but because of a miscommunication all of the Running for Change students ended up running in and finishing the 10k race, according to Franco.

Sophomore Caroline Moreno, a Running for Change participant, was glad to have the chance to run at Levi’s stadium. “It was amazing,” she said. “After I passed the finished line I felt so accomplished and it was just breathtaking.”

Moreno is looking forward to the coming year with Running for Change. “I like that everybody is so supportive of one another and we don’t judge anyone,” she said. “Also Mr. Franco is awesome with keeping us motivated and making sure we try our best with not just running but with our school work too.”

Franco felt that, overall, the event was a resounding success.  “I wanted the kids to be able to participate in a race [in which] they could really feed off of the positive vibes in the crowd and feel something different,” he said. “Being able to cross the finish line in the stadium just gave the kids a really fun, different experience, especially since it was the first race of the year and we have a lot of new kids, I wanted to have them participate in something that really wowed them to kick off the year, and to give them something to look forward to.”
Running for Change will participate in the San Francisco Neon Run in March and the Marin County 10k in April. They will finish the year at the San Diego Half-Marathon in June.