Mission: To create strong WNC communities where every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to boldly pursue her dreams through lessons that blend physical activity with life skill development, including managing emotions, fostering friendships, and expressing empathy.
Girls on the Run of Western North Carolina (GOTR of WNC), a council of Girls on the Run International, is a nonprofit organization serving girls in third through eighth grades in fourteen Western North Carolina counties. GOTR of WNC aims to inspire girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum that creatively integrates running. GOTR of WNC envisions creating strong WNC communities where every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to boldly pursue her dreams.
GOTR of WNC is a partner in the Asheville Buncombe Middle Grades Network, which utilizes a collective impact strategy that brings together Asheville City Schools, Buncombe County Schools, and community partners around a shared vision of creating success-ready 9th-graders and improving graduation rates.
GOTR of WNC partners with schools and community agencies to use discussions, running games, and other physical activities as contexts for teaching girls essential life skills and core values for adopting an emotionally healthy and physically active lifestyle. Every spring and fall, teams of eight to 20 girls meet bi-weekly over a 10-week period with trained volunteer coaches who deliver lessons on issues such as self-talk, peer pressure, gratitude, nutrition, healthy decision-making, and community service. Each season ends in a celebratory and non-competitive 5K run. The sessions target development of competence, confidence, connection, character, caring, and contribution to the greater good of society. GOTR of WNC accomplishes this goal through three primary programs:
