AROTC's first annual 5k run raises $2,200 for local charity
By Katie Schleiss
Even though her alarm clock was set for a bleary-eyed 3:15 a.m. on a Saturday morning, sophomore Julia Gomes said that she was so nervous about helping to set up for AROTC's first annual charity 5k run/walk that she bolted out of bed 15 minutes before her alarm even sounded.
'Round UP on the Bluff, held on Saturday, Sept. 19, was sponsored by the University of Portland and Army ROTC.
According to sophomore Donald Drummond, organizer of the event, the 5k charity run/walk raised approximately $2,200 for both ARTOC and Open Meadows, a local charity that works to successfully re-engage disconnected youth in their education by providing academic and support services to those at high risk of dropping out of school.
"I personally came up with the idea last year because I thought it would be a fun community event that could help raise funds and get the campus excited," Drummond said. "As I started to develop ideas, the event underwent numerous changes and developed into what took place this Saturday."
Open Meadows educates students in school programs and provides an array of transition services that help students move smoothly from middle school to high school and from high school to college and career. All students work toward high school graduation and Open Meadow served more than 700 youth in their programs in 2007-2008.
According to sophomore Brian Feeney, every finisher received a metal water bottle as a prize, due in part to a donation from the Oregon National Guard.
In addition, prizes were awarded to the top three overall finishers and the top finisher in each age category, along with a variety of door prizes.
Nevertheless, Drummond said that what was more important was the charity and the community coming together, not who got first place.
Drummond added that it is an outstanding way for new students to meet more students and get a sense of being involved on campus. Feeney said that this is a great event for all students to participate in and that this event was designed for all to enjoy, regardless of athletic ability.
"Though this is a race, people of all athletic ability are welcome and will all walk away with something," Feeney said. "We hope this event will be a success for all parties involved and will be for years to come."
Drummond said that this will become an annual event and that AROTC hopes to expand and develop the event each year to make it more successful. He said that AROTC decided to host this event because they take pride in helping charities, promoting physical fitness and well-being.
"Since cadets came up with the idea, the professors decided to help us organize the event and make it successful because they want us to develop into future leaders," Drummond said. "Developing into future leaders means taking up endeavors that have not ever taken place before and turning them into beneficial events for everyone and that is why we are striving to make this event out-standing."
Gomes said that the event went well from the standpoint of one of the core planners, but the weather was less than ideal. Since it rained, she said that was a huge detriment in terms of fund-raising because students couldn't use the rock wall that was set up for the day.
Gomes said that she learned a lot from working with a team of people to try to motivate them towards a common goal. She said that the event was planned in about three weeks, and that she hoped that next year's class will have a larger turnout and have more money raised. She said that she would definitely do it again, but would prefer a longer planning period for the next event.
"We have had the opportunity to go to college and there's a lot of teenagers out there who are having a harder time with the transitions between middle school and high school and high school and college," Gomes said. "We had a lot of people register the day of the race and that was really exciting for me to see that college students actually get up that early in the morning to come and support the charity."
