Waterford — This is the story of how the educational process integrates the athletic, the academic and the social.

This is the story of teaching our children the value of living for others, amid this morass of self-indulgence.

This is the story of perseverance and inspiration.

And maybe best of all: This is proof that glimmers of hope, slowly climbing the list of endangered species, still exist.

This was Tuesday afternoon in a classroom at Clark Lane Middle School, a mix of students, teachers, politicians, business people, blue collars and white collars, taking time from their day to hear about a Walk-A-Thon.

On the surface, the concept of a Walk-A-Thon is fodder for roughly page eight of that antiquated institution called a newspaper. Walk-A-Thon: raise money, walk, nurse the ensuing blisters and bunions. Nothing terribly sexy there.

But then there was math teacher Jay Gionet, whose video splash was about to crescendo, asking about a half-dozen students to commence with the check presentations. The guess: Middle school walk-a-thon, a few hundred bucks.

The first: A check for $5,000 to the Cactus Jack Foundation, a Waterford-based group helping people in need for decades.

The second: A check for $25,200 to the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation, a 17-year-old entity that has raised a gazillion dollars for the noblest of reasons.

The third: A check for $12,015 to the Clark Lane Mental Health Team, a wide-ranging program helping all students in need.

If you’re scoring at home, that’s $42,215 from a walk-a-thon.

“It’s the first walk-a-thon we’ve done here in three years,” Gionet was saying, “and I admit there were times I was thinking ‘maybe we shouldn’t do this.’ I didn’t think the $22,000 goal we set was achievable. But the effort of the students and staff was absolutely incredible.”

In all, 550 kids walked an aggregate 3,750 miles. And the kids decided upon the organizations to get the money.

The idea began some years ago now with Gionet, who turned a walk/fundraiser into a linear equation, using real-time data within a classroom — and later into a schoolwide activity.

"Back when we were kids, we learned about linear equations, y=mx+b," Gionet said at the time. "The y-intercept is the starting point. How much it increases is your slope. Kids get pledges and donations. Before we start walking, we have a starting point. The goal is to walk a certain number of miles, with pledges per mile.

"Math teachers write their equations in individual rooms and then it becomes a school equation," he said. "Once the kids understand how the equation works, they can apply it to real life."

This year, the sixth graders related the walking to mean, median, mode and range. The seventh graders investigated “the constant of proportionality.” The eighth graders had linear equations, the old y=mx+b. (Next time you think it’s easy being a kid in the social media age, just imagine dealing with this stuff again, too.)

There was even a social studies/geography component. The kids learned that their 3,750 miles was akin to walking from here to DisneyWorld in Orlando, banging a right and walking to DisneyLand in Anaheim. (And still have 40 miles left over.)

The synergy here is noted. The kids got outside and moved around, applied it to mathematical principles and helped people simultaneously. But while we should all appreciate the athletic and academic, perhaps the enduring lesson here is the social.

Our political divide has created an abyss. We shout damnation at each other before encouragement. We’ve become shamelessly self-indulgent. And the kids are paying attention.

Now imagine how their brains worked during this endeavor. Fundraising is not easy. Walking 3,750 miles is not easy. There’s no real individual prize, just the goal of the team to exceed $22,000. There are life lessons here. The best kind. Maybe the kids will take them beyond Clark Lane, Waterford High, college and into real life, where they are needed more than a lung.

“This is a very proud moment,” invitee (and Waterford first selectman) Rob Brule said after the ceremony. “This is what Waterford is about. Neighbors helping neighbors. In challenging times.”

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro