Wizards for Water (WFW) is a club run by Micah You, a Middle College High School (MCHS), teacher, and it’s an outlet where students can participate in the Orange County (OC), full or half marathon. Adding on, WFW works with the charity organization Team World Vision to address Africa’s water crisis. WFW contributes to the provision of clean water to communities, enhancing nutrition, health, and children’s access to education, through fundraising and the OC Marathon. I have spent a year at Wizards for Water, and it is one of my favorite clubs I have ever joined.
One man in 2015 marked the beginning of Wizards for Water. Mr. You, a Middle College High School teacher, ran into a man wearing a Team World Vision jersey when he was training alone for the Los Angeles (LA), Marathon. As it happened, the man was employed by the same group that Mr. You was advocating for. The concept for student involvement was developed when the man told him about a high school engagement program. Learning that students could also get involved, Mr. You pitched the idea to his students the following school year. A small team accepted the challenge, running the LA Marathon and raising funds. The experiment was successful with Mr. Ramos’s assistance. To have better management, Mr. You chose the Orange County Marathon the following year. Adding on, Mr. You added selling chocolate as a way to raise money without having to keep asking for donations. The funds from chocolate sales were sent to the fundraiser for Africa’s water crisis.
The club was brought to a stop following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this did not impedeMr. You and his club members raised almost $10,000 that year, for a total effect of around $45,000, which is sufficient to give safe water to about 800 African children. I acknowledged WFW during my sophomore year of MCHS, yet I felt like I was too afraid to fully dedicate myself to running a lot of miles. I’ve known that the training was weekly, and it required training by running more and more miles until you were ready to fully be able to run 13 miles or 26 miles. At the time, I felt like my body was too weak to handle a lot of physical activities on my legs, and I would get easily injured. Yet, I still wanted to join because it was a great cause, but I felt like I wasn’t ready. It wasn’t until my senior year of MCHS that my friends signed up for the first time and wanted to try the club, so I followed suit. Aaron Cruz was one of the people who convinced me to join WFW because he was a veteran at the club and told me that if I worked hard enough on myself, I would be able to run the half marathon.
My first group run is a moment that I remember vividly. On January 25, 2025, I and other WFW members had to run 2 miles with no break, and once I finished, I felt weak and exhausted. The thought of running 13 miles straight rang in my mind after my first group run. After the sprint, my legs quickly felt like they were melting, and I was sore even after 2 days. Though the somewhat unpleasant first experience wasn’t all negative, it introduced one of my favorite things in WFW: the ability for me to be able to run with some of the people from the group.
The feature of running with people in WFW allowed me to network and connect with people with the same interests as mine. I ended training after school with some of the people I knew from MCHS before the weekly run, so my legs and feet would get used to the overwhelming number of steps I would put on my body. The experience alone made it feel so connected and welcoming, and later on, you can feel the growth you get from all of the training sessions done. However, running isn’t the only part of Wizards for Water; members of WFW must fundraise for the people in need.
The fundraising aspect was something I was initially uncomfortable with at first. I was nervous to ask people for money, but I understood that it would be easier since my donors are able to receive chocolate in return. Moreover, if I wanted to fundraise and care about the people in need, I would need to overcome my nervousness about talking to new people. During work, I told my peers about the club that I was in, and to my surprise, they fully supported my cause, and I nearly sold more than half of the 60 chocolates in a day. As I and members of WFW move up in miles ran, we eventually end up on race day on May 4, 2025. I woke up around 4:00 AM to go to MCHS to pick up the jersey and the bib that are requirements for the OC Marathon. It ached me that I had to change my sleep schedule, but I couldn’t complain because it was too late to do anything about it. Race day was one of my most memorable moments of Wizards for Water. The early morning air was cold, and it also started to rain later on in the marathon, but it was warm and full of excitement as we lined up at the start of the OC Half-Marathon. Once again, I was running in groups with people I knew in WFW, yet the participants were way more than I expected. I couldn’t comprehend how many people showed up; it seemed like anytime I was running with more than a hundred people. Some non-participants would shout at different interviews of the race, just cheering on the participants of the run. Those little things made a difference in morale and my physical pain; it felt like a boost in times when I felt like I wanted to quit easily. Also, knowing that I was never alone and I was running with people from different backgrounds and reasons to dedicate themselves to tons of training felt inspirational and impactful. Overall, the race was tough, with moments where I wanted to quit because I felt my legs were giving up, but later I felt numb, and somehow I was able to finish the run.
Crossing the finish line was astonishing, not because of the pain, but because of the pride. I never knew I could train my body enough for something much bigger than me. Joining Wizards for Water taught me that I’m capable of more than I imagined. It gave me purpose, a sense of community, and the drive to keep doing good in the world. I would be able to, I might try to do the OC marathon again.
