PARIS — The Oxford Hills Middle School’s Art of Well-Being Quest has recently ventured on a quest to learn about healthy living. This quest has helped students learn how they can keep themselves healthy and happy.

This group of kids created and designed their own muddy trail run and obstacle course. The race will be held on Saturday, June 13 at the OHMS North campus and benefit a local high school student who needs help breathing.

The team recently heard about a local race car driver named Tommy Tompkins, who also embarked on his own Art of Well-Being journey. Tompkins, over the winter, said he gained about 20 pounds.

During a phone call with Tompkins, he said, “I posted a status on Facebook as a joke telling my friends to call me fat whenever they saw me so I would stay motivated to lose the weight so I could actually fit into my race car since it had gotten harder since I gained the weight.”

One of Tompkins’ friends told him he couldn’t call him fat.

His friend said, “I can’t call you fat. But, I will give you $5 for every pound you lose.”

That’s when his journey to losing weight began. Tompkins and his friend decided that the proceeds that came in from his weight loss would help a young girl named Ashleigh Merchant, who is in need of a double lung transplant because of a genetic disorder called Cystic Fibrosis. The genetic disorder causes the mucus in the body to thicken, causing breathing problems. The disorder can even cause problems in other organs. The transplant is expensive and the family can’t do it themselves. That’s why the OHMS Art of Well-Being Quest will being giving all proceeds from the race to Ashleigh and her family.

The Art of Well-Being team has worked with many students from other quests to make this course truly amazing. OHMS students have recently challenged the Mountain Valley Middle School students to see who can get the most students to participate in the obstacle course. There are many prizes to be won, T-shirts to be given out, as well as some homemade medals that participants get after finishing the race.

Many students who are taking part in this quest joined this quest because they want to make healthier life choices and to get healthy. That’s one reason Zach Fillebrown chose to take part in this quest. 

“I chose to do this because I wanted to make a change and get healthier and learn how I can be healthy,” he said.

You can go to runsignup.com to sign up for the Great Challenge by simply searching the list of events by name. There is even a course for young children called the Mini-Viking Challenge in which three- to nine-year-olds can participate.  All of the net proceeds will be donated to Ashleigh and her family following the race. 

To volunteer or make a donation, please contact Oxford Hills Middle School at 743-5946.