As a health and physical education teacher at a Lancaster County middle school, Cera Gaston’s curriculum puts a large focus on the mental well-being of her students.

On Thursday morning, Gaston, originally from Lehighton, practiced what she preaches as one of nearly 900 runners and walkers in the 2022 Bo Tkach Foundation Turkey Trot 5K in Palmerton.

Money raised from the event goes toward the foundation’s mission of providing mental health counseling funding, scholarships, and educational presentations on suicide prevention, obsessive compulsive disorder and depression.

“I know as a teacher how important mental health is because if a student is not mentally there, how can we expect them to be physically there, do their work and participate in class?” Gaston said. “This foundation gives back to the community in so many ways that it’s really important for me to come and support what they do.”

Gaston was the top overall female finisher in Thursday’s race, which came less than a week after she finished 57th out of 292 runners in the NCAA Division III National Cross Country Championship as a graduate student at Alvernia University.

“I’m a little beat up after that so I wanted to just go out and today, hold a steady pace and use this as a workout,” Gaston, Alvernia’s first cross-country national championship qualifier in program history, said. “I’ve been running in the 18:30s all season, so I was very pleased with the time out there today.”

On the men’s side, Palmerton native and Lehigh University senior Jake Martinez was first across the line.

Martinez called the Bo Tkach Foundation an “integral part of the community” and said he loves coming back each year for the turkey trot as a way to connect with family and friends.

“I was really involved with the organization when I was in high school and to be able to support it, there is no better way to start Thanksgiving,” he said.

Now in his last year at Lehigh, Martinez has racked up an impressive running resume, something he said he’d be proud to look back on in the future.

“It has been a great experience,” he said. “I’ve been able to take home a Patriot League title and set two school records, so that’s something I’ll always remember. I was able to bring a teammate here to the race today to experience this and it was a great time.”