Grambling State University’s Residential Life and Housing Department kicked off their fourth annual 5K Glow Run for Breast Cancer Awareness. The 5k Glow Run was held at the Tiger Village Clubhouse on Wednesday, Oct. 28.
Senior residential assistant Timothy Ismael produced the idea of the glow run.
“At first we had a 5K walk that originally started in 2010 in the intramural center and on the track, it eventually turned into a ‘5K Glow Run’ in 2014,” said Carneilia Barfield, assistant director of Residential Life.
During the course of the week, Residential Life/Housing had been doing daily events. To kickoff the week, the area launched their new project called “Tree of Hope” which allowed residents to write positive words for cancer under the tree located next to the mascot, “Eddie” the Tiger.
Tuesday was “Residential Life goes Pink”, Wednesday was the 5K Glow Run for Breast Cancer, Thursday was Pink Out Aerobics, which unfortunately was canceled and to wrap up the week, on Friday was the continuation of the “Tree of Hope”.
“This year’s theme was “Pink”. When you think pink, one would usually think about wellness. Getting your yearly mammograms and any other preventive checks for men and women in regards to preventing cancer,” said Dana Howard, director of Residential Life/Housing.
WESLEY LOVE/The Gramblinite
Runners and walkers line up in preparation for the annual 5K Glow Run for Breast Cancer Awareness.
The Tiger Village Clubhouse and the Barnes and Noble Book store sponsored the event. The Barnes and Noble book store donated 50 glow in the dark 5K run shirts. The first 50 students who signed up and showed up received a shirt.
“The idea of the 5K Glow Run is to raise awareness about breast cancer and cancer in general” said Barfield.
The first competitor to finish was Jeremiah Bias with a 17 minutes and 32 seconds time. Bias is , a freshman accounting major from Moreno Valley, California.
“I’m doing this because I’ve never done anything like this before and raising awareness for cancer is such a positive thing,” said Bias.
“One of my relatives has cancer and it has been really hard on my family, but we stay strong and support her through everything. I feel the run is a very positive idea. It informs people in the community that this is a very serious disease and is nothing to play with,” said Tamala Dunmiles, Thibodaux, Louisiana, sophomore child development and early literacy major.
“The run was fun, more challenging than expected, but it was good to come out, have a nice time and meet new people.”
“We would like to thank everyone for coming out and participating. We are looking forward to next year when we host an AIDS Awareness 5K glow run Dec. 1, 2016. Next year we will also be looking for donations to donate to the Susan G. Komen fund,” said Barfield.