It was a sea of color on Friday, Oct. 21 as Oakdale Junior High School hosted a color run for both seventh and eighth grade students to raise money for the Junior High Parent Teacher Club.

Prior to the event about $20,000 was raised, and the event still allowed parents and volunteers to send in donations alongside the student’s registration.

All OJHS students were welcome to participate whether they had raised money or not and were greeted at the starting line with “swag bags” that were filled with sunglasses, their own color powder, and more.

The students were released one group at a time to break through the paper banner and begin the run. Parents and volunteers were placed around the campus, spaced out along the route with different colors to shake onto the kids. The chalk powders were made from coloring and cornstarch, making it safe and fun.

The students began alongside the F buildings behind the main gym and made their way around the dirt track and out along the fence to run around Cottles Woods Park and back through campus, circling around the front grass area by the main office buildings. Ultimately, the participants made their way back to the starting line. Students were allowed to do as many laps as they wanted to within the allotted time frame for the color run and by the end of the first lap, each student was wearing their own array of colors.