Junior high students walked their cares away on Thursday morning - while raising money for a local animal shelter.

Eighth-grade students from Old Rochester Regional High School put together a walkathon to raise money for a Rochester-based nonprofit, It's All About the Animals. The no-kill shelter takes in and shelters cats and kittens, while helping them to find their "furrever" homes.

The walkathon was designed by members of the Orange Team. (There are two teams of students in the eighth grade, Green and Orange.)

Preparation for the walkathon included designing advertisements and pledge forms, holding a telethon for donations, networking with local public officials, and running public announcements in the school. All aspects were handled by the students (with help from their teachers, of course).

The walk, originally scheduled to begin at noon, had to be shifted to 8:15 a.m. on account of the rainy forecast. Students hit the high-school track in their rain gear, undaunted by the cloudy skies and raindrops, and stayed there for the next 100 minutes, a challenge they met in order to raise funds.

"This was the Orange Team's first large-scale community service project," said teacher Nichole Charbonneau. "We'd like to make the walkathon an annual event to raise funds for other local organizations."