Kate Doherty

Blog 3: Reindeer Games

            On November 19, 2016, the honors program hosted the first annual Run Run Rudolph 5k. For the event, runners donated to participate in the run. The money raised is going to be donated to a local family to help them buy presents and have a great Christmas. My role in the event was registrar. I manned the registration table and made sure each runner signed a waiver and handed in their donation. We sold reindeer antlers and jingle bells as well as ribbons to support the cause further. A trail around the lake was marked and other volunteers held signs and encouraged the runners to keep going. After the event, all of the volunteers participated in a discussion session to reflect on the event and make suggestions for next year.

I think that the event had a lot of potential. For a first annual event, I think it was very well organized. We had plenty of volunteers to help set up the Christmas decorations and to man the trail. The only thing that really needed improvement on was the amount of people who participated. In future years, I think it would be beneficial to collect money for participation ahead of time instead of just providing a preregister form. This might encourage more turnout for the event on the day of. Otherwise, the money would have already been donated and overall, more money would be collected for the great cause. I am excited to promote this event in future years and get more involved in helping at the event. Hopefully we have even more success in my next 3 years at Stockton.