On Saturday April 1st, 2017, the streets of Anguilla were painted with an explosion of rainbow colors as runners of all ages ran from Bethel Methodist Church to the Public Library in The Valley, at Anguilla’s first ever “Colour Me Tech Run.” This thrilling and exciting run which was met with screams and shouts of joy from participants as they were splashed with a myriad of different colored powder paint, was An ICT in Education Event held by the ICT Division of the Anguilla Department of Education. The event was one of three initiatives which also included the sale of earbuds at Primary Schools and the 1000 Parent “Gift of Love” Challenge, in efforts to raise funds to provide much needed resources to equip all learning spaces with the appropriate technological tools for our students. The event was not only to raise funds but to bring much needed awareness to the critical importance of the need for Anguilla to develop digitally literate citizens, who can use digital tools for communication, and for the creation, sharing and gathering of information.
In the midst of the run, there was a Pokemon run sponsored by Gadget City and Coral Reef Bookstore, in which runners were on a hunt to catch the most Pokemon – catch the strongest Pokemon and become Gym Master. Unfortunately, no one became gym master and some runners forgot they were catching Pokemon in the midst of the colored fun. However, there were two winners: Sekani Reid (most Pokemon caught) and Cleave White (strongest Pokemon caught).
All runners received a finisher’s medal, as at the Colour Me Tech Run – all runners are winners. Runners also had the chance to wash off the paint with the assistance of a water truck sponsored by Vanterpool Trucking Services as they listened to local Djs and bands.
Despite the fact that the event did not generate enough funds to reach the target goal, Curriculum Officer for ICT, Tamara Pradel, was still pleased with the outcome. She stated that overall the event went well and that she truly appreciated the support from the entire Anguilla community, their sponsors and partners. She was especially grateful to her team of ICT teachers from the six primary schools, and ALHCS, who came together as one and put in extra hours to get this done. A special thanks is given to the officers of the Department of Education who jumped in to lend a hand from organizing to ticket sales to food sales. She said that the event could not be a success without the support of their sponsors who not only assisted financially – but for some the assistance also came in the form of throwing paint powder onto runners. Their sponsors were Chamber of Commerce, Leviticus Lifestyle and Travel, HiTek Signs & Designs, Anguilla social Security Board, Tropical Distributors, Leeward Island Boats, ANGLEC (yellow paint throwers), Calypso Charters Anguilla, Tropical Shipping, FLOW (blue paint throwers), Digicel (red paint throwers), NAGICO (green paint throwers), Alloyd Enterprises, Essentials, Greig’s Trucking, JW Proctors, Black Orchids, Anguilla Tourist Board and Zarna Brokerage and Trucking.
In addition to the sponsors, the event encouraged local gyms, business, sport teams and organizations to send teams to compete for the Most Team Spirit Award, awarded to the team with the most participants. The Community Partners were Anguilla Tourist Board, Results Driven, First Caribbean Bank, Digicel, Social Security, and the winning team with over 50 participants was Dungeon Gym & Fitness Center.
All schools also had the opportunity to win the Most School Spirit Award by having the highest percentage of students participate. The Valley Primary School won, primarily due to class 6R. Class 6R is using the Colour Me Tech Run as the focal for their Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment projects this year and because of that, they were determined to have their entire class represented and supporting the event.
Mrs. Pradel stated she definitely cannot forget the volunteers, mostly students from ALHCS, who came out to help throw paint on runners. She told The Anguillian that the students were certain they were not going to participate, but then there they were covered in every colour along with all other runners.
So the question on everyone’s mind is: will there be another Colour Me Tech Run? The answer: 2018 Be Ready!!!
– Contributed
