A record was broken on May 16th when The Florence Adler Walk-Run, now the Florence Adler METCO Cup 5K Race, had the largest number of participants in its history.

Florence Adler was a Wayland mom and a proud supporter of the Wayland METCO Program. The annual walk-run is held in her memory. The funds raised support the Wayland METCO Program which has faced severe cuts to its funding. The walk run is such a major event in the Wayland METCO program because it helps bring a lot of money in and it also helps bring the community together. This year’s Florence Adler METCO Cup raised $14,122, which will help pay for the Wayland METCO late buses that allow all students to stay after school, as well as help support other areas of the program. “All of the METCO late buses, scholarships, field trips, and a lot of staff members are paid for by fundraising. So, without fundraising the students will have nothing,” said METCO tutor, James Miller.

This year, Wayland extended an invitation to neighboring METCO communities and was joined by Cohasset, Weston, Reading, L-S and Wellesley. The participating schools competed for the METCO Cup. Wayland won the challenge so the cup will stay in Wayland for the year, and will be on display at Wayland Middle School.

Raising money during these difficult economic times is not easy. The middle school held a competition to see which homeroom could raise the most money in Florence Adler’s name. The winning homeroom brought in $1300 and earned itself a pizza party. Of all the schools in the system, the high school raised the most money, bringing in $6,365.

Wayland appreciates the support of many teachers, students and community members. “It was such a big hit and lots of fun, said sophomore Sarah Cutler.