Sally Bojorquez Is Creating Community Through Running

Sally Bojorquez is a teacher and Rising New York Road Runners program lead at PS 159X in the Bronx, a small K–5 elementary school where over 90 percent of the students identify as Hispanic. “It’s a tightknit student body in a tightknit community,” said Sally, who speaks English and conversational Spanish with her students. The program at PS 159X is open to students in grades 2 through 5 and draws about 25–30 participants each year.

Sally herself started running in childhood. “In the spring of eighth grade, I went out for track. I came in last in all the races except the mile, where I came in second to last. I guess the coach thought I had potential for the longer distances,” said Sally, now 39, with a laugh.

She stuck with the sport, running the mile and 3K in high school and later for a Division 3 college. She still runs, and last year she finished the TCS New York City Marathon (pictured below).

“I got so much out of being a track athlete,” she said. “I felt like I meant something and was a part of something.”

Sally remembered that feeling when she started teaching at PS 159X in 2010. “At the time we didn’t have a PE teacher and we barely had recess,” she said. “There was no community around physical activity.” She started a Girls on the Run program; when the boys clamored to join in, she found NYRR’s free youth running program, then known as Young Runners.

“It was perfect for us,” she said. The social side of running drew the kids in, just as it had for her as a young teen.

“It was something for them to be a part of. We created a community, right from the start.”

Sally scheduled practices before school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. “At first, we worried that 7:00 a.m. was too early, but we found that even the kids that can’t get to school by 8:00 a.m. are miraculously able to get here an hour earlier for running!” she said. “Running jump-starts their day.”

She appreciates that the program includes all types of movement. “It instills a love for moving your body in all different ways,” she said.

That love is passed from students to their families, especially when parents and siblings come out to cheer at races and events. “The families realize that running, movement, eating well is something they can do too – just getting everyone out of the apartment for some fresh air,” she said.

Parents also see their children gain confidence. “The kids realize this is something they can do, and the parents see that, too,” she said. “The struggles that happen through running carry over to other areas. You have bad races, but you get to the finish line and celebrate with your friends.”

Learn more about Rising New York Road Runners here.

Read more blog posts celebrating Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month here.

Running photo by MarathonFoto.