The Gionets decided to walk the 26.2-mile walkathon as a birthday present for Jay's mother. The consumate math teacher who sees how numbers fit into all walks of everyday life, Gionet saw a connection for his students. The math book he started using last year used three fictitious students who participate in a walkathon to teach the concept of linear equations.

"I was thinking this would be a great way to get my students involved," Gionet said.

First, he had the kids determine their walking rate, which gave them the basis for developing multiple linear equations. After they got the hang of graphing the linear line, he started asking them if they saw the pattern and different mathematical relationships.

"All kinds of hands-on math, it was just coming to life for them. That's what they like about it," he said. "They own the data; instead of just reading a book, it is their own data."

Gionet can describe math so even a journalism major gets it.

"A linear equation is where if I take data and graph it, it is going to form a straight line, to increase at a constant rate," he said. "Money earned equals M; $3 per mile times X amount of miles, plus a $5 flat donation, is a linear equation. The kids are able to look at the graph and start telling me all sorts of information; where the line started, its slope, its intersecting points with another line - that could be a break-even point."

He also pulled out the math books at a parents' meeting. While the expected to go over walkathon plans, he talked equations and graphs instead, showing them three different scenarios and equations.

"And the jaws dropped," he said. "Parents told me 'Oh mt goodness, it really does make sense. That's what my child has been talking about - they really understand it and it makes sense.'"

Local students stay on track during the Breast Cancer Walk-a thon held on the track at East Lyme High School.

What started out as a simple classroom exercise took on a life, not only for Gionet's class, but two other eighth-grade math classes. He passed on the idea to some science teachers, who helped students look at nutrition and hydration, calculating the nutritional vlaue of water, soda, and popular sports drinks and how much water a student needed to drink to stay hydrated. Language arts got involved, with reading nonfiction articles about the number of bones in the human foot and how to prepare for walking. One of the young leader programs held before school took an interest.

On September 29,more than 200 students at the school held their own walkathon lapping the track at East Lyme High School. They had been preparing for weeks, charting equations and calculating how much money they could raise for three hours and the difference between a lump sum donation and per-mile contributions.

"When we first started out , our goal was about $2,000," said Gionet. "They thought if we could raise this for breast cancer research that would be huge. After the first weekend of pledges, the kids had already gone past this goal."

So, they did some more calculations and scenarios. By the opening ceremonies for the walk at he school, Gionet said, the students determined they had already raised $5,000.

Ava Cunningham 3, of Deep River walks with her father on theELHS track during the ELMS Breast Cancer Walk-a-thon.

"It was an amazing event, and very well organized," said Sandy Maniscalco. She and Tim Brodeur, husband of Terri the namesake of the foundation who succumbed to breast cancer as a young mother, joined the students in their walk. "Jay had been giving me updates beforehand, but I had no idea what I was walking into on that Saturday morning in East Lyme."

The total amount of money raised would depend on how much each of the students walked in a three-hour period. By the end of the day, they had surpassed $10,000. Not everyone had signed up or completed their pledge information, though.

"We really thought the kids would be taking breaks, walk a couple of miles, grab some oranges and water," Gionet said. "But they didn't break fro long. They were just walking their little hearts out all morning."

Maniscalco said a number of school groups in the area, including a Waterford tennis team and the senior class at Old Saybrook High School, have contacted the Brodeur Foundation and started to organize their own fund-raisers for it. This is a trend she hopes will continue.

"The energy on the day of the East Lyme walk, with kids and parents out there supporting them was wonderful," she said. "It was organized as well as any running race or walking event that I've been to. For these kids to be walking for three hours, some of them walked up to 12 miles. What a great community service thing for middle school students to be involved in.

On October 6, when Jay and Mary Gionet stepped up to start the foundation's walkathon, he could proudly report that the students had raised $16,000 from the East Lyme Middle School to fund cancer research through the foundation.

Local students stay on track during the Breast Cancer Walk-a thon held on the track at East Lyme High School.

"He really has that fund-raising skill and he's got vision," Maniscalco said. "I'm really blown away by this math project, that he was able to generate that much excitement and to have his first event be so successful."

Gionet also has ideas for creating tools that can be used by other schools interested in starting a similar project.

"Several schools have approached me already, and we're hoping to put together an informational meeting," he said.

Although the math students will no doubt be completing more calculations and analyzing of the data from their walkathon, Gionet said the fund-raising bookkeeping is just about wrapped up. Anyone who is interested in showing their support for the East Lyme Middle School students and their program can still make a donation to the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation before the end of the calendar year.