Ellicott City Woman Celebrates 10 Seasons as a Coach with Girls on the Run

Wendy Kanter, a resident of Ellicott City and a teacher at Fulton Elementary School in Fulton, is marking her 10 season anniversary as a volunteer coach with Girls on the Run of Central Maryland, which is a national non-profit program that “works to encourage pre-teen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through dynamic, interactive lessons and running games, culminating in a celebratory 5k run”.

“I signed up to be the head coach for the spring and winter seasons at Girls on the Run during my first year as a teacher at Swansfield Elementary School in Columbia,” says Kanter, who is a runner herself and has competed in the St. Michaels Half Marathon (St. Michaels, MD) and the Shamrock Half Marathon (Virginia Beach, VA), and will be participating in a duathlon in Bear, DE in September.  “There are many opportunities at GOTR for women of all ages, abilities, and schedules to be involved, and it’s great to see the girls get so much out of the experience.”

Kanter is a 2009 graduate of River Hill High School in Clarksville.  She earned her BS in Psychology from University of Maryland in 2012, her MA in Elementary Education from Towson University in 2013, and her MS in Human Resource Development from Towson U. in 2017.  She’s currently a Gifted and Talented Resource teacher at Fulton Elementary School, and provides math and language arts enrichment for students in grades K-5.  In her two years working at the school, Kanter has introduced a variety of innovative activities for her students – including a board game club for 4th and 5th graders and a mock trial club for 5ith graders.  Both clubs have helped to develop her students’ leadership and communications skills.

Along with her work at Fulton Elementary School, her coaching with Girls on the Run, and her athletic pursuits, Kanter is also a private tutor of math and science with the newly launched Sylvan In-Home, which provides personalized one-on-one instruction for kindergarten through high school students in the Baltimore area. Kanter tutors 3rd through 7th graders in reading and math, and integrates Sylvan’s custom educational software, which runs on an iPad, into her teaching sessions.

“The Sylvan In-Home program allows me to administer a pre-test when I begin working with students that gives detailed feedback about what they’ve mastered and what they need to work on,” says Kanter.  “If I notice that a student needs a particular skill, I can have that added to his or her learning plan. This flexibility allows me to customize a tutoring strategy that fits each child’s unique needs.

“Being a tutor allows me to meet new people in my community. We live in a pretty diverse area, and it has been amazing to get invited into the homes of people with different cultures who want to share that with me.”

Kanter’s most recent 5k run with her Girls on the Run team took place in early June in Columbia.  The team will begin training in September for their winter run, which will be held in December.

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