This past Saturday, members of the Wittenberg community got up at the crack of drawn to run in the second annual Phi Kappa 5K.
The Phi Kappa 5K is a philanthropy event that is hosted by the fraternity of Phi Kappa Psi, where participants paid an entry fee of $5 to walk or run in a 3.1 mile race and all of the proceeds went to The Boys and Girls Club Of America. The Boys and Girls Club of America is a national organization that’s goal is to provide after-school programs to young people. Participants had the option of paying an additional $15 towards the cause in order to receive a Phi Kappa 5K t-shirt.
The chilly morning wasn’t enough to stop over 50 participants from crowding the streets in front of 226 W. College Avenue, where the race would begin and end. To ensure that everyone had an equal chance of winning, participants competed in three different groups: an all-men group, an all-female group and a 23-and-older group.
In the all men’s group, the top three finishes were all members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. Finishing in third place was Rahul Ramanthan, ‘20. Finishing in second place for the second year in a row was Andrew Herron, ‘20. Zachary Hobson, ‘20, was able to defend his title as he was able to run his way to a first place finish.
“I finished in second place again,” Herron said. “Just wait until next year. Zach doesn’t know what he has coming for him.”
Many women showed up to participate in the race, but the top two finishes belonged to Becca Wells, ‘18, who ran hard and was able to earn second place finishing as runner up to MacKenzie Freeman, ‘18, who was able to race her way to a first place finish.
And for the 23-and-older group, there were two participants who were able to finish the race. Coming in second place was education professor Amy McGuffery. Finishing in first place was Jon Duraj, the Associate Dean for Student Success and Retention.
This is just one of the many philanthropy events that a Greek organization had hosted on campus this week and in the coming weeks. On Tuesday, the sisters of Gamma Phi Beta hosted a basketball tournament known as “Moonball,” the brothers of Delta Tau Delta hosted a dinner called “Melts With Delts,” the brothers of Beta Theta Pi invited the Columbus Zoo to bring exotic animals to their Philanthropy event known as “Animal House” and the sisters of Delta Gamma will be selling tickets to “Gammaburger,” a cookout that will be hosted at their home on Oct. 11.
All proceeds raised at these events are donated to charities and other non-profit organizations.
