Using a mobile application “Pedometer & Step Counter” to track steps, Run for the Future requires participants to walk or run as many steps as possible daily over a two-week period. The participant with the highest number of steps at the end of the event will be the winner.

The fund-raising element kicked in when participants approached friends and families to sponsor their efforts by pledging to run/walk a targeted number of steps.

Caitlyn Lee, President of the Interact Club revealed: “We had to really think out of the box to reach out to students and give them a reason to join this ‘children helping children initiative’.

“As incentives, we came up with a few reward systems that are appealing to students. For instance, community service hours proportional to their efforts, certificates of achievement and attractive prizes for the top three winners.

Vice-President of the Club, Edward Liew, chipped in: “Over and above that, we worked to encourage teenagers of our age to step out of their comfort zone, to innovate and take the first step in making a good change to our community, no matter how small or big it may be”.

Throughout the two-week period of the virtual run, a daily leaderboard was set up to motivate participants to consistently keep fit and push themselves to the limit. Participants’ step counts were tracked daily and they were informed of their daily achievements via a WhatsApp group. This serves as a great motivational platform especially when schools had to shut down due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.