29 members of BFA’s Student Council participated in St. Albans’ 7th Annual Running of the Bells on Thursday, December 5, 2019.  

The event, hosted by the St. Albans Messenger, is a brief one mile long jog around downtown St. Albans that goes to benefit Operation Happiness, an organization that focuses on getting toys to local youth during the holiday season. Nate Archambault, an adviser to the Student Council, explained the collective decision made with co-adviser Mary Ellen Tourville to have the Council participate.

“We had thought it would be a good event for BFA to have representation at, as a worthy cause, and a way to be more active with our Student Council in the community,” Archambault said.

Archambault expanded on their focus on community.

“One of the things we’re trying to emphasize more is community events. We tend to think about the BFA community, but I think it’s also really important to give kids an opportunity to experience greater community. The more positive experiences that our students can have with the greater community, the more likely they are to continue to do those positive things as they get older,” Archambault said.

Runners taking part in the event with family or groups of friends often wear Christmas-themed costumes to display their holiday spirit. Student Council donned BFA’s green and gold this year.

“I think we’ll be a little more thematic going forward, but Student Council purchased some green hats, and Ms. Tourville made gold-colored scarves. All of our BFA students were in green and gold holiday wear,” Archambault said.

Archambault and Tourville plan to have this event become a tradition for Student Council. 

“If Ms. Tourville and I have anything to say about it, it will be (tradition). We’ve both had a very positive experience doing it for the first time. I would wager, despite the temperature… the students had a pretty good time as well,” Archambault said.