Special needs students at the Hank Jones Early Childhood Center are participating in a new program called Achilles Kids. This free program encourages students who may have physical limitations.

Students from Dr. Candice Howard-Shaughnessy’s physical education for exceptional children’s class at Troy University assist Dana Haley’s class at the Childhood Center during physical education to complete the distance of a marathon, 26.2 miles. The university students hold the program for one hour each Thursday.

“I’m excited about this grant,” said Howard-Shaughnessy. “ I feel like it is a good experience for everyone involved. My students are getting experience with adapted physical education and implementing a grant program.”

The students can complete the marathon in a variety of ways, whether it be walking, riding a tricycle, swinging, bouncing on a ball, etc. All of these ways can be achieved with or without assistance.

Achilles Kids also supplies promotional items such as posters with the kids’ pictures to hang up around the school. They also provide a virtual tour of Troy, so they can visualize how far they have traveled. By the end of the program the students can visually see how far a marathon is in this area.

The program began only two weeks ago, and students have already begun to complete mileage.

“A few kids have already achieved over a mile, and we only started implementing the grant two weeks ago,” said Howard-Shaughnessy.

At the end of the program on May 1, if the students complete the 26.2 mileage, they will receive a certificate, medallion and a t-shirt. Students receive a certificate for every five miles completed in order to encourage them to continue to the goal.

The students have already received shirts from Achilles Kids in order to motivate them during the program.

“We are excited to see what we achieve by May,” Howard-Shaughnessy said.