Southeast Missouri State University will host the sixth annual Walk for Women on April 13 to support women's athletics.
The money raised benefits both men and women, but it gives the opportunity for women to be recognized for their athletic achievement.
Senior associate director of athletics Cindy Gannon created the event after researching similar events held at various campuses across the nation.
"You mold an event to what fits a campus," Gannon said.
Every year the walk has grown not only in popularity but in financial support. Last year more than 250 people attended and raised more than $32,000, which at the time brought the five-year total for monty raised by the walk to more than $100,000 for athletic scholarships. The goal this year is to break every previous record of attendance and reach more than $40,000 raised, according to Gannon.
There are a total of 34 captains this year who travel around the community and recruit volunteers to participate in the walk. Participants can be anybody from community members to faculty who just need a donation of $25 per person to register. They can even form teams, which can consist of an unlimited number of people.
In order to get more student participants, assistant vice president for student success and director of Residence Life Bruce Skinner and professor of mass media Karie Hollerbach are in charge of the "Campus Challenge" this year. The challenge asks people to form teams on campus, and the team that raises the most money receives a trophy, T-shirt and a free tailgate at a Southeast football game next year.
Participants will meet at Houck Field House at 9 a.m. for check in, and the event lasts for about two hours. At 10 a.m., they will begin the 30-minute walk around the campus, along with other activities including face painting and prize drawings for things such as gift cards and trips.
This year will be bittersweet though, Gannon said. The walk will highlight the lives of two women, Meg Herndon and Kim Mothershead, who died in the last year. Herndon, a Southeast student and soccer player died last year following a scooter accident, and Mothershead, a former honorary chair for the event and member of the Board of Regents, lost her battle to cancer in late August.
"It's a day of celebration, but also we're going to take the day to remember two outstanding women that were a part of our program," Gannon said.
Mothershead's daughters, Kathryn Sprengel and Julie Mothershead, have formed their own team for the event and are hoping to raise more than $3,000 in honor of their mother. Sprengel and Mothershead hope their team raises the most money in order to be recipients of the Mothershead Award, which is an award granted to the team that raises the most money. The women even had a graphic designer from Dallas create a logo for their team shirts. Ultimately, the logo would become the logo for a foundation they're hoping to start, Sprengel said.
The hummingbird logo and tagline represent a reminder to everyone to stay positive even through a time of crises, just as Mothershead did when she was battling cancer.
"It's about continuing my mom's legacy," Sprengel said. "It's also using her memory to help athletes."
All of the proceeds from the event will go directly to the Southeast athletics scholarship fund, which is evenly distributed among all athletes. Gannon said the ultimate goal is to get the scholarships fully funded, but the amount of the scholarships needed each year varies.
According to the National Commission for Certifying Agencies guidelines, Southeast is allowed to give a maximum of 191 out-of-state scholarships, but only about two-thirds of athletes are from out of state.
"It's really hard for athletes, especially international students, to come to SEMO without an athletic scholarship," said Jess Courtnell, a Southeast tennis player. "We're all really appreciative of the opportunity to get an athletic scholarship, and the women's walk helps us give something back so that future students will be able to get the same opportunities that we did."
