This past Saturday morning nearly 30 runners and walkers gathered outside of the Animal Sciences building in the cold to participate in a five kilometer race to raise funds for the Multicultural Law Student Association.
This registered student organization (RSO) is affiliated with the College of Law and the attending students. In an effort to provide more opportunities to members of the RSO students within the group organized the first annual Gotta Go Buffalo 5k.
“This year was the first time we did the 5k,” said Carissa Armitage, first vice president of the Multicultural Law Student Association. “I think it went pretty well for the first time we’ve done it.”
“We try and put on pretty fun events,” said Mick Bondi, treasurer of the association. “We try and do multicultural stuff. The next event we’re planning is a salsa night for this semester. It might happen in the spring though. But the proceeds will go towards getting professional salsa dancers to the event and food and beverages as well.”
Students at the law school have a number of opportunities to attend national conferences and competitions. To offset the cost of attending the group decided to begin organizing this event.
“A portion of the proceeds from this 5k will also be used to send students to some events,” said Armitage. “Last year some of the members went to New York for a National Nelson Mandela Negotiation competition.”
For their first year organizing this event the students felt they had a fairly good turn out. The chilly weather didn’t stop participants from getting out and finishing the race at the College of Law.
“So when we started organizing this we were planning for about 50 people to attend,” said Sara Davis, president of the RSO. “Hopefully this will help students attend more events put on by National Black Law Students Association or the National Latina Law Students Association.”
Businesses in the Laramie community also donated items to be raffled off to event participants as well. Donations came from Java Java Espresso, Jacoby golf course, Coal Creek Coffee and a number of other businesses.
“This has actually been a great community outreach event too. We had so many local businesses contribute items to the raffle,” said Armitage. “We hope that these funds will be able to send students to other worthwhile events in the future.”
