Students Run for Their Lives

There are students who run for school president, and students who run for class treasurer. And then there are Paul Trapani’s students, who just run. In the Los Angeles Marathon.

A group of the Aliso High School students strolled over to their history teacher Tuesday and offered him a casual greeting.

“What’s happening, T.?” they inquired as Trapani gingerly petted a cantankerous goose, one of several animals that inhabit the Reseda campus.

The teacher, dressed in shorts, a casual shirt and athletic shoes, smiled.

“Our kids get a nice taste of the rural life here,” said Trapani, 36, pointing to the school’s gardens and animal pens. “It’s a familial setting, and our kids do great.”

The 80 or so students at Aliso are succeeding partly because of an innovative program called Students Run Los Angeles, or SRLA.

Co-founded by Trapani and two other teachers 10 years ago, the running club was created to help low-achieving students challenge themselves to meet long-term goals.

Trapani got the idea after reading about Boyle Heights teacher Harry Shabazian’s success at getting five of his students to tackle the annual 26.2-mile race in 1988.

Trapani persuaded his Aliso High colleague Eric Spears to help him train 15 of their students for the next marathon.

With Shabazian’s guidance, Trapani launched SRLA. A well-known athletic-shoe company and some local businesses helped outfit the young runners, six of whom completed the 1989 marathon.

“For kids who had all experienced failure in school, and who don’t always get parental support, attaining this goal was a major achievement,” said Trapani, who lives in Simi Valley. “It was a great moment in my life.”

The experience was so positive, Los Angeles Marathon officials and the Los Angeles Board of Education got behind the three running-club founders to help organize SRLA into a citywide program for 14- to 19-year-olds.

“SRLA took a lot of creative thinking, but Paul’s very good at bringing ideas to fruition,” Spears said of the running club, which this year brought 1,500 students to the marathon. “He’s very motivated to make sure each student makes progress. It’s amazing to watch him.”

Trapani, who was recently nominated for an Assistance League of Southern California volunteer award, began teaching at Aliso in 1989, after earning his teaching credentials from Cal State Northridge.

Trapani, who is married with two children, said at-risk students benefit from the structure and positive reinforcement built into training for the long race.

Aliso senior Kathy Palacios, who ran the marathon five years ago, credits the running club and Trapani with helping her gain a sense of accomplishment.

“The training was hard, but it got me in shape,” she said. “I finished the race, thanks to T.”

For Trapani, the reward of watching his students succeed in life has been worth the hundreds of miles he has run.

“With all the terrible events we hear about in the world, it’s great to be involved with a program that emphasizes the positive,” he said. “There’s no gang rivalry or school rivalry when we’re out there. We’re all equal on the course, and we all finish winners.”