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Students, community prepare to Walk for Awareness |
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Wednesday, 29 August 2007 |
by REBECCA GARDNER
News Reporter
The 18th Annual Walk for Awareness will be held next Tuesday beginning at 9 p.m.
The walk begins at Sanford Mall and will end at the courtyard adjacent to Rankin Science Complex and Edwin Duncan Hall.
This year’s theme is “Stand Up: Speak Out, Do Something.”
“The
walk serves as a reminder to campus and community members to always be
aware of their personal safety,” Coordinator for the Center for Student
Involvement and Leadership Suzette L. Patterson said. “It also
commemorates lives lost to violence, supports victims and survivors of
violence, and affirms participant’s commitment and responsibility to
speak out against all forms of violence.”
This year’s speakers include Vice Chancellor for Student Development
Cindy A. Wallace, Counseling and Psychological Services Center
representative Chris Hogan, Dean of Students Susie L. Greene, graduate
student Harris C. Ligon, and student-athlete Vonteena G. Knotts.
“We have a different route this year and a new theme,” Patterson said.
“The different route is due to construction of the stadium parking lot
and when we were planning we did not know if it would be finished on
time and we wanted a place for a large crowd.”
Patterson coordinated this year’s Walk for Awareness with help from
Oasis, University Police, the dean of students, Counseling and
Psychological Services, and the Office of Equity, Diversity, and
Compliance.
Patterson has coordinated Walk for Awareness since 2003.
“I’m always tremendously moved by how we can get so many people to participate,” Patterson said.
In the past, it is estimated that an average 3,000 students and community members attend the Walk for Awareness.
“We have a lot of goals this year and we want to help everyone feel
like they are joining a community because we all have a responsibility
to each other and strive to help people see that they have become
part of a community,” Patterson said.
Students as well as members of Watauga County communities are encouraged to walk.
“I have walked every year because I teach a freshman seminar class and
I require them to go and I walk with them,” Wallace said. “It is a
message for entering freshmen and I feel that my role as a freshman
seminar instructor is to teach students about resources on campus and
this is one of them.”
Before the walk a video presentation and question-and-answer session
titled “Why walk? A Survivor’s Story” will be available to all students
and community members who are not familiar with the Walk for Awareness.
Everyone is encouraged to attend the presentation to begin at 8 p.m. in Farthing Auditorium.
“People have their own spin [on Walk for Awareness] but ours is born
out of a 1989 tragedy including violence against a university employee
and a university student that is unique and personal to our campus,”
Patterson said.
This is a silent walk and no cell phone use or smoking is allowed.
“I think it takes a community to make something safe and that’s a huge community effort,” Wallace said.
Any student organizations or clubs participating in the walk are encouraged to wear their organization or club T-shirt.
The Appalachian Parents Association and University Highlands student apartments support the Walk for Awareness.
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