German Immersion Families Run to German Fest

For the past four years the German Immersion Foundation has sponsored the St. Ben’s 5k Run/Walk to German Fest. This year about 40 family members and staff from the Milwaukee German Immersion School (MGIS) and the Milwaukee School of Languages (MSL) took this sponsorship one step further by organizing a team to participate in the event. Herr Arndt, the physical education teacher at MGIS who organizes a fitness club for students every year, helped promote the event by recruiting fitness club members and their families to be on the German Immersion team.

During the awards ceremony Herr Arndt had an opportunity to share some of the statistics from his fitness club. Over the course of the 2008-2009 school year MGIS fitness club members walked the equivalent of a round trip from Milwaukee to Munich. Given the increasing levels of childhood obesity in the United States, combined with school budget cuts that often result in the elimination of physical education programs at public schools, MGIS is fortunate to have a wonderful teacher like Herr Arndt as our gym teacher. School parents particularly appreciate his extra efforts to promote a lifetime of fitness by getting MGIS students involved in his fitness club. Participating students have the opportunity to walk up to 6 laps around the playground (1.5 miles) at every lunch recess. Over the course of a school year many students log more than 50 miles and a few get close to 100 miles.

The German Immersion Foundation is pleased to be a part of the St. Ben’s Run/Walk to German Fest. St. Ben’s provides 2,000 meals per week to Milwaukee’s homeless population.

“Brother Dave Schwab really runs a wonderful program and we are grateful for the opportunity to support St. Ben’s mission,” said Mike Carroll, President of the German Immersion Foundation. “Every year more and more people participate, which says a lot about the generosity of our community. We’re glad so many families and teachers from the German Immersion program participated this year and we hope to have even more join our team in 2010.”