Run to Fund

The second annual Love Fund Color Run will start Saturday, April 23 at 8:30 a.m. with runners and walkers of all ages participating. The Color Run is a 5K charity event sponsored by STUCO that runs through the streets surrounding East. While running in the race, participants have color powder thrown on them by members of STUCO at multiple “color checkpoints.” This year a couple of the checkpoints will be at houses that are along the course.

At the end of the race, more color awaits for the runners to cover themselves in. Last year’s STUCO founded The Color Run to raise money for the Love Fund. Dedicated to helping East students and families that are going through a tough time, the Love Fund aids families with the fees that can arise from classes, field trips and lunch, among other things. STUCO plans to raise $5,000 for the fund.    

Last year’s student body president, Annie Savage, thought of the idea for The Color Run at the end of her junior year.

“It was the best moment of my life when the run happened and I will remember it forever,” Savage said. “I hope that this can grow and grow and eventually be something huge that SME can continue to do. Maybe someday I’ll be STUCO sponsor at East and get to plan the same run again,” Savage said.

Savage has continued to help this year’s execs. She left paperwork and contacts from last year so they could be used this year.

As successful as the run was last year, this year’s STUCO execs are determined to make improvements. They have added more color with more stations and a DJ named Carrieoke. Certain aspects of the run will stay the same, like the free bagels and donuts, water bottles and T-shirts.

Student body president Kyle Baker hopes to make the run a tradition at East, and knows he can achieve that by showing the underclassmen how to run it and leaving a layout for them to follow just like Savage did for them. He also wants to raise the numbers of participants to around 350, around 100 more participants than last year.  

The run is $10 for students and $20 for non-students. Baker hopes that because the sign up is online, more people that don’t attend East will participant, like students’ siblings and other family members.

STUCO treasurer senior, Laurell Stegelman believes that the attendance was lower last year because it was on the same day as prom, so people did not want to be covered in color and then go to prom. Baker’s goal for this year is to raise over $5,000 for the Love Fund.

So far they have raised $1,500 of their $5,000 goal.

“There is more development,” Baker said. ”We are making it bigger because it was so successful last year.”

Baker and the rest of STUCO want to get the word out to all East families, so they put up posters around the East area promoting the run. This year, there is an option to sign up for the race on the Color Run website. To sign up online, there are three steps: fill out the online form, pay online or pay with a check made out to SME Stuco and, print this form and get it signed then return it to the main office.

“We want this to be a traditional thing like the dances every year,” Baker said.