Every spring, when animals emerge from hibernation and flowers begin to bloom, New Way holds the annual Fun & Color Run. This year’s campaign kicks off this Monday, on February 9th. We wanted to give everyone a sneak peek at everything that you can expect from our most colorful event of the year. Every spring, we hold a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign where the students have the power to give back to New Way. This year, students are raising!
funds for motives that enhance positive contributions and behaviors to a supportive school community, digital resources for students’ literacy and learning, and supplies for during and after-school that encourage personal growth and social skills. Each student around campus has a $150 goal, and our collective goal as a school is to raise $34,500.
Every student has their fundraising website on New Way’s donation platform. Students are encouraged to share their donation page far and wide with friends, coworkers, family, neighbors, and anyone who might want to support New Way. Students’ pages can be customized, and you can send emails directly from the platform.
Students can also earn retro prizes as they reach individual goals. On Monday, students will get a chance to see these prizes in person, and the prizes will be delivered over the coming weeks. There will also be various challenges throughout that have their prizes, as well as level-wide prizes for hitting goals as a group. Finally, the individual student who raises the most by 11:59 P.M. on February 25, 2026, the final day to contribute, will win a 1-night, 1-room stay at Great Wolf Lodge for 4 people.
What will be expected at the fundraiser, you may ask. Well, the campus celebrates the end of fundraising with the Fun & Color Run, which is one of our most thriving and fun events of the year! A race track is set up on the back field, and students can walk, skip, run, move their bodies, or boogie to the beat of the music. The color part is colored powder that gets thrown by volunteers who want to join. Fear not, the powder is made up of 98% food-grade cornstarch and 2% non-toxic food dye. Lower School participates in a Fun Run on Thursday, February 26th, at 2 PM. If students reach the $12,500 threshold by the run, then the fun run gets transformed into a color run. The junior high color run will be on Friday, February 27th, at 2 PM, and finally, high school will have field day on Friday, March 6, 2026.
Prizes started going home this week. Moving forward, our weekly challenge will be announced in the morning announcements. Each week for this month until the Color Run comes around, there will be some challenges to complete receiving an additional prize. For the first challenge, the homeroom with the highest percentage of students with a donation of any amount by Thursday, February 12th, 2026, at 11:59 will win a flavorful popsicle party. Unfortunately, there will be no white shirts provided this year. So, pretty please, with a cherry on top, wear a shirt you don’t mind getting a bit messy to run. We have various opportunities for community members and parents to help, whether you can attend the runs or not. According to Mrs. Keathley, the color run and fundraiser are important because they are a meaningful opportunity for our school community to engage in a peer-to-peer fundraising experience. Rather than relying solely on their contributions, students have the chance to reach out to family and friends to share their mission and invite their support. Therefore, this approach not only broadens its impact but also empowers students to actively advocate and participate in their school while building confidence, self-efficacy, and
connection. She also added that the reason students can learn from fundraising is that school fundraisers offer far more than financial support for organizations; they provide powerful opportunities for student growth and development. As students advocate for a cause, thank supporters for their help, and work together on a common goal, they strengthen communication skills, basically critical thinking, so it can be agreeable to the team, which can build confidence and practice collaboration. Fundraising also introduces important lessons in financial literacy, accountability, and community engagement, which would help students around New Way to see that their efforts truly make a difference in our community and could make a difference in their lives too.
An update came up that we’ve already passed $6,000, a reminder that the 1st weekly challenge ends TONIGHT!!!! So better make sure to get your last mission done as soon as you get the chance.
