Today we’d like to introduce you to Laurie Johnson.
Laurie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I have been involved with Girls on the Run (GOTR) since 2008 when I came across the logo on the Goody website. I had to click on it! Once I started reading about what GOTR was, I knew I had to be involved. I contacted the Executive Director in Dallas and after meeting with her, signed up to be a volunteer coach. It was absolutely one the best decisions of my life. I loved coaching the girls and seeing their confidence level grow throughout the season. I cried when they all crossed the finish line. Especially one little freckle-faced red headed girl who had asthma. She never thought she could run a 5k but all season I ran with her inhaler in my pocket and helped her continue to improve. Seeing her accomplish something she didn’t think was possible, was the best moment. I continued to coach for eight seasons.
I also served on the Board of Directors for five years. I spent my time on the Board as the SoleMates Director, coaching women to run half and full marathons while raising money for GOTR DFW. Helping these women reach their goals and seeing them grow was one more part of GOTR that I loved.
For the past four years, I have had the privilege of served as the Executive Director for the Girls on the Run of the DFW Metroplex Council. It is my dream job! I am incredibly passionate about this organization and its mission. I feel so lucky to get up every day and do the work I do.
I have been running since 1976 when I was a freshman in High School. Running gave me focus, kept me out of trouble and it made me feel better about myself. I am dyslexic, which caused me to be very shy growing up because I went to the “retard” class for help with reading. Needless to say, school was hard for me but once I started running, I felt like a new person. It was also motivation to keep my grades up.
The only bad part of running in high school was that my parents hated it. It was not something that was widely accepted in the mid-seventies. It wasn’t lady like, my dad said. I ran anyway and I was good at it, going to the State cross country meet every year that I ran.
I have continued to run my whole life, even though three pregnancies. It is a way of life and I am so grateful that I know what my passion is and get to do it! I have run 31 marathons, including two Boston Marathons and five ultra-marathons, including Comrades in South Africa. I am in the process of running all seven continents, with only two left; Antarctica and Australia.
Has it been a smooth road?
One of the biggest challenges we have as an organization is sustained funding for the girls in our territory that cannot afford the registration fee for our program. We serve all six counties in the DFW Metroplex, which is more than 80 different school districts, the majority of which are low-income. We are committed to providing financial assistance to any girl who needs it and we have never turned anyone away regardless of their ability to pay.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Girls on the Run story. Tell us more about the business.
Girls on the Run® is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to creating a world where every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to boldly pursue her dreams.
At Girls on the Run, we inspire girls to recognize their inner strength and celebrate what makes them one of a kind. Trained coaches lead small teams through our research-based curricula which includes dynamic discussions, activities and running games. Over the course of the ten-week program, girls in 3rd-8th grade develop essential skills to help them navigate their worlds and establish a lifetime appreciation for health and fitness. The program culminates with girls positively impacting their communities through a service project and being physically and emotionally prepared to complete a celebratory 5K event.
Girls face social pressures and conflicting messages about how they should act and who they should be. Studies show that by adolescence, girls’ confidence drops about twice as much as boys’. Friendships become more complicated and challenging, girls’ perception of their academic ability declines, the likelihood of anxiety and depression increases and participation in physical activity plummets.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
We believe that EVERY GIRL is inherently FULL OF POWER and POTENTIAL. By knowing they are the leaders of their lives, these are the girls who WILL CHANGE THE WORLD.
We are very proud that Girls on the Run was recognized in Harvard University’s 2017 report Navigating SEL from the Inside Out for its innovative and distinct approach to social emotional learning. Girls on the Run was one of only three afterschool programs recognized as a top research-based social emotional learning program, acknowledging that there are few examples of evidence-based programs like Girls on the Run that have been specifically designed for out-of-school time contexts.
What sets us apart from other Positive Youth Development programs is that we include physical activity. Adding running to the curriculum makes a profound impact on the girl’s confidence.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
One of the greatest things I have been able to do since being at Girls on the Run was going to Nairobi, Kenya and working with 39 girls that had been homeless. They all now live at a facility run by a non-profit organization. The Girls on the Run programming applies to girls of all socio-economic statuses, cultures, and backgrounds and I had an opportunity to facilitate a lesson with these girls. We spoke about positive and negative self-talk, which seemed to be very relevant given all these girls have been through. They were amazingly open, engaged and hungry for the information. We had an incredible time together and I am sad I will probably never be able to see them again. Hopefully, I was able to make half the impact on them as they made on me. I hope they know just how special and beautiful they really are!
Contact Info:
- Address: 17130 Dallas Parkway, Suite 170,
Dallas, TX 75248 - Website: https://www.gotrdfw.org
- Phone: (214) 484-3082
- Email: Laurie@gotrdfw.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/gotrdfw/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GOTRDFW/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/GOTRdfw
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