While most high school students simply try to get their homework finished, a few local teens are working hard to accomplish a feat few people succeed at: running a marathon.
Seven members of the Noble Street Charter High School's cross country team are training hard with their coach, David Biele, in the AIDS Marathon Training Program. These students and recent graduates are all from low-income, inner-city families on the West Side, but despite the challenges they face in their everyday lives, they are running and raising money for the fight against AIDS. Seven teens, ranging in age from 16-19, including two recent graduates and an out gay teen, are sweating to reach their goal.
' [ Our coach ] kind of got us all convinced that it would be interesting and a challenge,' said recent graduate and previous captain of the girls cross country team, Juana Ramirez, 19. 'You know, helping people, and then you have a challenge for yourself, too.'
Biele, a U.S. history teacher and boys cross country coach, is the founder and faculty advisor for Noble Street's AIDS Action Club. The organization has provided more than 1,000 hours of community service and raised over $15,000 for AIDS service organizations such as Howard Brown in the four years of its existence. Biele has also completed the 550-mile 2001 and 2002 Heartland AIDS Ride. The second time, he brought 10 of his Noble students, four of which were riders. 'I would say between the AIDS Action Club, the AIDS Ride and the students doing the marathon, we've either raised or helped raise about $30,000 for different AIDS service foundations,' Biele said.
Many students at Noble Street are impacted by AIDS, which is what gave Biele the idea to invite students to the AIDS Ride and marathon. 'I teach U.S. history at my school, and when they were doing current events and the issue of AIDS came up, I asked for a show of hands for how many people in the room know somebody who is either HIV positive, has AIDS or has passed away,' he said. 'And in every class, it was about a third to half of the kids raised their hand.'
After completing the 2004 AIDS Marathon Training Program and running the Chicago Marathon, Biele decided his students would be interested in joining him this year. Two joined right away, and then at an informational meeting, the rest followed. 'For myself, I knew just the sense of achievement and the sense of pride of accomplishing such a huge and daunting task of running a marathon or bike riding 550 miles and then raising all that money,' Biele said. 'Achieving that is just really satisfying, and I wanted to be able to provide that opportunity for my students.'
'He was pretty ecstatic when he came back,' said Marcos Avila, 18. 'He kept raving about what a tremendous program it had been.'
Avila, a recent Noble graduate who just started attending the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana, is excited about the Oct. 9 marathon. 'I've volunteered at the marathon before, so I know what it's like to be there, but now I actually get to be in it.'
Biele admires the dedication of his team. Many are immigrants; all are from low-income families and live in neighborhoods with gangs, violence and crime. At the same time, he said, these things do not get these kids down. 'So when you say hardships they face, it's not something they even talk about.'
Every Saturday morning, the Noble seven get up at 5 a.m. to make the long trek to Foster Beach for the weekly training runs. Avila, now away at college, commutes via Greyhound all the way from Champaign for the Saturday runs. 'I can't run 26 miles on my own; I just don't have the willpower.'
During the week, the group does early morning maintenance runs on Tuesday and Thursday mornings in a gym class Biele teaches.
The coach describes the seven as a tight-knit group of friends, who had already bonded before the training began. 'We're all friends,' said Ramirez. 'We're all from different grades, also.' Ramirez plans to attend college in January.
The students have come up with various fundraising activities, including a 5K race, a letter-writing campaign, a yard sale and a spaghetti dinner. So far, the group has raised more than $7,000 of its $11,000 goal.
Noble Street is very active in the AIDS marathon. Of the 450 students at the school, about 350 volunteer at the marathon each year, said Biele. The month leading up to the marathon, the school sends 20-30 students to the marathon office each week to put together race kits and lend a helping hand.
Those interested in learning more about the program or how to donate to the Noble Tigers fundraising efforts, should visit www.aidsmarathon.com or call ( 312 ) 765-0210.
