Newtown High School students Aidan Waaler and Cameron Whorf combined their passion for running with their desire to do some good for the community through their high school Capstone project by organizing a team to run the Ragnar Road New England for the Dylan’s Wings of Change this past weekend.

The group placed eighth in the Men’s Open Division and had the 23rd fastest time overall out of approximately 150 teams to complete the 191.2 mile course, clocking in at 29:19:12. In addition to their athletic success, they raised $7,600 for Dylan’s Wings of Change, created in honor of Dylan Hockley, a victim of the Sandy Hook tragedy in 2012.

Within the curriculum at Newtown High School, there is a Senior Experience Capstone class through which they complete a project for credit that pertains to their interests and passions. Waaler and Whorf’s unique Capstone project is sure to have a positive impact on the community.

“It’s special to have our own Capstone that’s not going to be like most of the others,” Waaler said.

The team organized by Waaler and Whorf completed the Ragnar for Dylan’s Wings of Change foundation, October 22 and 23. The team organizers and their families are close with the Hockley family and reached out to Ian Hockley, founder of Dylan’s Wings of Change, about their idea.

“I was so impressed that two high school students were prepared to take on the challenge, not only of doing the race but being co-captains of the team. It involves a huge amount of planning logistics, presenting to corporations for fundraising, and organizing the team,” Hockley said.

The team began the Massachusetts relay in Groton at 7 am on October 22, and finished midday the next day in Quincy. Each of the team’s 12 runners completed three legs of the race. The shorter legs were three to five miles, but the longest was 11 miles at a time. In total, some of the participants ran around 20 miles over the course of the Ragnar.

There was one participant always running throughout the journey while the rest of the participants traveled in a van awaiting their turn. The team of runners traveled in two vans. Each van had four high school boys and two adults. The Newtown High School team members of the team were Cameron Whorf, Aidan Waaler, Sam Staubly, Emery Tullis, Collin Kelley, Jeremy Pankow, Aidan Budge, and Reilly Nydell, along with adults Chris Whorf, Nick Waaler, Matt Tullis, and Dr Rob Bazuro, who have run Ragnars before.

“The high school runners were so fast their team moved up through the pack until they were some of the leaders heading into each exchange, where they hand over to their teammates. Even after a full day and a night running, very little sleep and meals they grabbed on the fly, they were smiling to the end and ran across the finish line together,” Hockley said.

The efforts of these high schoolers were recognized by the Ragnar organization. This was the first Newtown High School group to be involved in Ragnar. Also, since it was the first high school group that Ragnar’s company head had heard of competing in their 40-plus years, they sent a film crew to interview and follow the team throughout the course.

“I thought it was awesome that doing something like that could be productive as it wasn’t just for our Capstone project but also a fundraiser for Dylan’s Wings of Change. So the fact that we got to group together having fun with our dads and friends with our Capstone project and raising money for charity worked out perfectly,” Whorf said.

Despite it being their first Ragnar, all of the high schoolers said they enjoyed themselves and that they would even do it again.

Whorf and Waaler are excited to leave their mark on Newtown High School with their unique Capstone project.

“I’m glad that we can try and push this forward as a pilot program because I would love to share the great experience with future Ragnar runners as well as try and help students into the charity scene whether it be for Dylan’s Wings of Change or any of their local charities,” Whorf said.

In addition to accomplishing something they have never done before physically, they also inspired others to try new things and use their talents and passions for a greater good.

The first mission of the Dylan’s Wings of Change was to support children with autism and related conditions, making grants to support small organizations that could not easily raise money.

In 2015, the foundation founded Wingman, a youth-led social and emotional learning program for all children to experience. Initially launched in schools, the program expanded to extra-curricular organizations in sports and dance as well as being used for professional development for adults.

In 2020, Dylan’s Wings of Change partnered with The Friendship Journey from Florida to create Wings of Friendship, a social program for people with disabilities that expanded into a full fledged eight-week summer experience, inspired by the documentary Crip Camp.

For more information on the foundation, visit https://www.dylanswingsofchange.org/