{"id":12645,"date":"2025-07-09T09:48:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=12645"},"modified":"2025-07-09T09:48:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:48:14","slug":"finding-your-pace-and-potential-uwl-student-inspires-confidence-leadership-in-young-girls-though-after-school-running-club","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/finding-your-pace-and-potential-uwl-student-inspires-confidence-leadership-in-young-girls-though-after-school-running-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding your pace and potential: UWL student inspires confidence, leadership in young girls though after school running club"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Photo<\/a>
UWL Senior Ilee Smith, a public health and community health education major, co-led a REAL Girls running and leadership program at Southern Bluffs Elementary School this spring. Inspired by faculty who emphasize community engagement, Smith says the experience will help prepare her for a future in leading health initiatives.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Ilee Smith trained for the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota this spring, she logged some extra miles \u2014 alongside a group of fourth and fifth grade girls.<\/p>\n

Smith, a senior majoring in\u00a0public health and community health education<\/a>\u00a0at UW-La Crosse, recently helped launch and coach a chapter of REAL Girls at Southern Bluffs Elementary. REAL Girls stands for Raising and Empowering Authentic Leaders. The after-school program combines running with leadership development, aiming to build confidence in girls during a formative period of their lives.<\/p>\n

The group met twice a week starting in March, culminating with participation in 5K run-walk in May. Each session included a group run, followed by a guest speaker \u2014 women role models from the local community, including firefighters, EMTs, business owners, college athletes, and healthcare professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want them to know that being who you are is more than enough,\u201d says Smith. \u201cThe transition from elementary to middle school can be overwhelming. If these girls aren\u2019t confident in who they are, they can be easily influenced. Our goal is to help them build a foundation before that big, scary change.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Smith, the message behind the miles was clear: there\u2019s no one right pace \u2014 on the track or in life. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t about how fast they ran,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was about showing up, doing your best, and growing stronger in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The REAL Girls Southern Bluffs chapter meets up with other chapters for a run at the La Crosse River Marsh. REAL Girls stands for Raising and Empowering Authentic Leaders.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Girls in the chapter said the program not only helped them improve at running, but also made them feel more confident and helped them develop friendships with kids from different grade levels at Southern Bluffs.<\/p>\n

“One of the things I really loved about REAL Girls is that the coaches will always build you up and never let you down,\u201d says Jillian Powell, a fifth-grader in the REAL Girls chapter.<\/p>\n

The idea to start a REAL Girls chapter began with a suggestion from Emily Boland, Smith\u2019s coworker at Hunt and Gather Grazing Boards. Knowing Smith\u2019s passion for running, Boland encouraged her to consider coaching. Smith quickly saw the opportunity to combine her love of fitness with her interest in public health.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf something like this had existed when I was in elementary school, I know I would\u2019ve loved it,\u201d says Smith.<\/p>\n

The news that Smith was serving as a role model for young girls through REAL Girls came as no surprise to Sarah Pember, chair of UWL\u2019s Department of Public Health and Community Health Education. Pember, who taught Smith in class last fall, says her character and community focus have been evident from the start.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has always been a standout student: conscientious, gets along with everyone, a true leader who is also passionate about public and community health,\u201d says Pember.<\/p>\n

Pember adds that Smith\u2019s efforts reflect a broader culture of service among the students she teaches \u2014 one that gives her hope for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis dedication to the community \u2014 the ways in which our students care for others \u2014 is standard among all of our majors. They wouldn’t be in public and community health if they didn’t care about people,\u201d she says. \u201cAlso, wonderfully, I see it in many of the students I have the pleasure to teach in my general education classes … \u00a0And it does inspire me about the well-being of our community as these students graduate and move on to serve not only La Crosse but the places they choose to settle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For UWL Senior Ilee Smith, the message behind the miles with REAL Girls chapter was clear: there\u2019s no one right pace \u2014 on the track or in life.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

REAL Girls gave Smith an outlet to apply what she\u2019s learned in the classroom in a real-world setting \u2014 a cornerstone of the public health and community health education program at UWL.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always appreciated how much our professors encourage us to get involved in the community,\u201d she says. \u201cREAL Girls was a way for me to do that \u2014 to get girls out and active, teach them new things, and show them the value of being engaged in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s long-term goal is to work as a public health nurse, ideally in a hospital setting. She envisions organizing community health initiatives like REAL Girls on a larger scale someday \u2014 efforts that make health and wellness more accessible to diverse populations.<\/p>\n

\u201cRunning is a great platform,\u201d she explains. \u201cYou don\u2019t need a lot of equipment or experience to start. And the benefits go beyond physical fitness. For me, running is a huge mental freedom. I started during the pandemic, and it gave me something to work toward. Now I get to help others discover that same joy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Written by UW-La Crosse<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uwlax.edu\/news\/posts\/finding-your-pace-and-potential\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Ilee Smith trained for the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota this spring, she logged some extra miles \u2014 alongside a group of fourth and fifth grade girls. Smith, a senior majoring in\u00a0public health and community health education\u00a0at UW-La Crosse, recently helped launch and coach a chapter of REAL Girls at Southern Bluffs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":12648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[104],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-12645","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-la-crosse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/12645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=12645"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=12645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}