Gator Gallop 2022

Are you ready to run?

Our 2022 Gator Gallop is next Saturday, April 9th! Here's everything you need to know to have a great time.

Registration and materials.
If you’ve registered, great! You can avoid the lines and pick up your bibs during early check-in on Friday 4/8 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the back lot of the Greenwood School (inside the school if it's raining). Otherwise, you can grab your bibs on Saturday morning at the Lake.

Online registration for all runners closes Tuesday 4/5 at 7 p.m. If you haven't registered yourself or your child by then, you’ll need to register in-person the morning of the event. Registration the day of the event is $35 for the 5K and $10 for the 1-mile Kids Run.

• Greenwood Student Race Registration/Waiver

• Racewire registration (all non-Greenwood students, family, friends)

Do we need anything other than our sneakers?
>Greenwood students are encouraged to wear their Greenwood class t-shirts for easy identification during the 1-mile Kids Run. The stick-on bib numbers should also be visible, on the front. This may mean adhering the bib to a coat if it’s chilly. Both of these will help us identify the 1-mile race winners.

>This year we will have the MWRA’s Water Buggy, so bring your refillable water bottles to fill up!

>You’ll also want to bring some cash or a credit card because our Gator Gallop Raffle is better than ever this year, thanks to our generous sponsors!

Tell me about the Logistics.
Check-in, the start and finish lines, music, raffles and refreshments — it all happens on the Lower Common (by the bandstand). Check out the schedule of events to view all the fun your family will experience.

Race Day Check-in starts at 8:15 a.m. The Kids Warmup is at 8:30 and the 1-Mile Run begins at 9:00. Students will run the 1-Mile race without their parents. We will have parent volunteers on the course keeping a close eye on the kids and ensuring everyone finishes safely. Please refrain from running on the course.

In order to correctly identify the student winners, we will have volunteers stationed at the finish line. Greenwood teachers will be a few feet behind these “judges,” awarding medals to the kids upon completion of the race. There will be photo opportunities elsewhere, so please do not enter the roped area and crowd the finish line. Instead, meet your children after they have received their medals.

The 5K begins at 9:30, and winners of both races will be announced, and prizes awarded, beginning around 10 a.m.

From 9:30-10:30, Gallop sponsor Pedro’s Judo Center presents two-time Olympian Kelita Zupancic, a former international athlete from Canada who now lives in Wakefield with her husband and baby. She will be available to take pictures and sign autographs.

Around 10:30, dancers from Gallop sponsor Dance Track Studio will perform two routines.

What about the Student Pledge Drive Prizes?
We know the kids are eager to get their Greenwood water bottles and Wakefield shirts, and find out if they won one of the top prizes. Winners of Principal for the Day, P.E. Teacher for the Day, and the class participation prize will be announced on the Monday after the Gallop (parents of these students will be contacted). Those who raised enough money for the incentives will receive their prizes in a few weeks once we have everything ready to distribute. Remember, the online pledge portal is open through April 9th and every dollar raised counts towards incentives!

Do you still need help?
Yes! Race day volunteers are needed, especially for early morning setup, parent volunteers for the 1-mile run and monitoring the refreshment station. Please let us know if you can help.

Support our Gallop sponsors.
We strongly encourage you to frequent our Gator Gallop sponsors--the companies that have made our fundraising event possible. Many of them have connections to Greenwood School families. Get to know our sponsors here.

AuthorFest 2022 -- Author Spotlight: Rajani LaRocca

AuthorFest is thrilled to welcome Rajani LaRocca, who will be visiting Greenwood’s 3rd and 4th grade students on Wednesday, March 23rd!

Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in the Boston area with her wonderful family and impossibly cute dog. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, she spends her time writing novels and picture books, practicing medicine, and baking too many sweet treats. She is also the cohost of the STEM Women in KidLit Podcast. Rajani believes “that promoting diversity in children’s literature leads to empathy, and empathy makes the world a better place.”

Her middle grade novel in verse, Red, White, and Whole (Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins, 2021), has received multiple starred reviews and is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, a Spring 2021 Indie Next Top Ten Title, a BookPage Best Middle Grade of 2021, a Washington Post  Best of 2021, a NYPL best of 2021, a SLJ Best Book of 2021, A Mighty Girl Best of 2021, a 2022 NCTE Notable Verse Novel, a Project LIT Book Club Selection, a Nerdy Book Club Award Winner, a Cybils Award Finalist, and a Notable Books for a Global Society Award Winner. It is the winner of the 2021 New England Book Award, the 2022 Walter Dean Myers Award, and a 2022 John Newbery Honor. Her middle grade debut, Midsummer’s Mayhem (Yellow Jacket/Little Bee Books, 2019), was an Indies Introduce selection, an Indie Next pick, a Kirkus Best Middle Grade Book of 2019, and a 2020 Massachusetts Book Award Honor title. Her third middle grade novel, Much Ado About Baseball (Yellow Jacket/Little Bee Books, 2021) was featured on the TODAY Show and is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection with a Kirkus starred review. Her debut picture book, Seven Golden Rings: A Tale of Music and Math (Lee & Low), received multiple starred reviews and is the winner of the 2021 Mathical Book Prize for grades 3-5 and a Massachusetts Book Award Honor title. She is also the author of the picture books Bracelets For Brothers (Charlesbridge), Where Three Oceans Meet (Abrams), The Secret Code Inside You (Little Bee Books), I’ll Go and Come Back (Candlewick, 2022), Masala Chai, Fast and Slow (Candlewick, 2023), Your One and Only Heart (Dial, 2023), Summer Is For Cousins (Abrams, 2023), and more. 

Learn more about Rajani and her books at www.RajaniLaRocca.com.  

From the PTO: Diverse Literature for the Greenwood Library

At a PTO meeting earlier this spring, Greenwood Parents Emily Levine and Leah Cristi proposed using the PTO’s Library Fund towards an existing effort to bolster the Greenwood Library's current book collection with more diverse literature. Their proposal was quickly and enthusiastically approved, and Emily and Leah moved forward with their planning by consulting with Mrs. Buckley, our Greenwood School Library Media Specialist, to create a wishlist that will give our kids access to books that explore a wide range of life experiences, from race and culture, to neurodiversity and mental health, to world religions and family life.  

Before they order books, Emily and Leah are seeking input from both Greenwood teachers and families—we’d love to hear from you! Please take a moment to complete our brief survey below before June 11th to guide our ordering.