After a year hiatus from the pandemic, the Dolphin Dash student crew held their annual Dolphin Dash 5k race on April 30 to raise funds for the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia.

“This year, we were able to raise over $2,000 for this charity through our diligent student crew that worked towards communicating with local business, creating banners, and publicizing this event throughout the school,” said Latin teacher Shirley Hall.

The Dolphin Dash race, an Ocean Lakes tradition, has been organized and coordinated yearly for around 17 years now.

“This year, the race course began in the student parking lot, into the teacher parking lot, past the tennis courts, around the track once, back through the parking lots, towards the gate of the student parking lot, back to the woods, and finally, to the gymnasium doors,” said Hall.

The preparations for this event took place back in November and picked up in the early spring.

“The student crew did a wonderful job this year. We had a lot of help at meetings and we were very effective in contacting sponsors and painting banners which helped make the 5k a success! It was great to come back strong this year and put this event on, I think it was handled very well and truly enjoyed by both the community, the school, and the student crew,” said President of the Dolphin Dash Student Crew, Hope McCallister.

With approximately 100 participants, several volunteers, and a hand from a variety of organizations, such as the National Guard leading the start of the race, the race was able to have a strong kick-start.

“It was great seeing how this race was able to bring so many people together in our community to support this cause, I’m glad everything went well to make this event so successful,” said sophomore Brandon Cheng.