Founder of Girls on the Run Visits NWI

Girls-on-the-Run-LogoThe founder of Girls on the Run® International will speak at a special event at Valparaiso University on April 12, 2013.

Girls on the Run® of Northwest Indiana and Gamma Phi Beta will welcome Molly Barker to the Neils Science Center, 1610 Campus Dr. East on the campus of Valparaiso University. The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. and Barker will speak at 7:30 p.m. The event is open to the public and admission is $5 for adults and free for children.

"This is a very exciting time for Girls on the Run of Northwest Indiana, " Jill Schlueter-Kim, council director for GOTR of NWI, said. "We have grown so much in the past four years and Molly Barker was the inspiration for us to start all of this. She is a tremendous person and I can't wait to introduce her to the region."

Barker, a four-time Hawaii Ironman triathlete, launched Girls on the Run® in 1996 in Charlotte, NC. Today the 501c3 non-profit organization serves girls through more than 200 councils in the United States and Canada.

Girls on the Run® of Northwest Indiana is a life-changing, character development program for Third- through Eighth-grade girls that is offered at more than 35 sites in Porter, Lake, LaPorte and Jasper counties in Northwest Indiana.

Through exercise, positive reinforcement and encouraging role models, GOTR helps girls develop the confidence they need during the critical preteen years. Led by trained coaches, the program combines training for a 3.1 mile running event with self-esteem enhancing workouts. The goal of the program is to encourage positive emotional, social, mental, spiritual and physical development.

More information is available about Girls on the Run® of NWI at http://gotrofnwi.org/