Students from the Business Communication 101 class went beyond setting up a public relations plan for Youth Run New Orleans.
The class is sponsoring a practice run at Audubon Park, which prepared them for the Crescent City Classic 10 kilometer (6 miles) race.
“We have a semester-long project where you pick an organization, preferably a non-profit organization, and you find some deficiencies in the organization and plan to improve it,” said Devante Williams, management freshman. “We decided to go the extra step and execute our public relations plan for Youth Run New Orleans with a practice event at Audubon Park.”
Along with group members Victoria Lehew, marketing sophomore, Collette Keehnen, marketing freshman, and Sarah Kobes, marketing freshman, Williams requested the assistance of the Loyola track team and a $400 sponsorship from Cigars, an insurance company, to provide Youth Run New Orleans with food, posters and banners.
“We had to get the involvement of the track team, constantly communicate with the Youth Run New Orleans directors and secure proper funding to make sure we had the money to buy all the things that we needed,” Williams said. “We also recruited students from campus to barbecue for us, hold up signs and motivate the Youth Run New Orleans kids.”
Youth Run New Orleans is sponsored by the Youth Leadership Council and founded by Chalmette High School teacher Andre Feigler. It encourages discipline and self-motivation for extended periods of running.
“This started off as an after-school club last year, and we had about eight students run the Crescent City Classic,” Feigler said. “They loved it and were inspired to do it again, so we decided to structure the program on Tuesdays and Thursdays and get coaches to train with the students.”
There is open enrollment for Youth Run New Orleans. So far, 45 students from C.F. Crowley Alternative School, Chalmette High School and Riverdale Middle School have been practicing distance running, sprinting and weight training at Chalmette High School since November, according to Josh Harris, a geometry teacher at Chalmette High School.
“We ran the 5K Tour de Lis, and we did another Audubon run a few weeks ago,” said Harris. “Some of the students are in my class, and I have noticed that the best students do the best running, but I have also noticed that doing well here helps them to do better in school because I can always bring up ‘Hey, you didn’t quit running, so don’t quit on me in math class.'”
Feigler said she saw in her students a desire to run the Crescent City Classic, but not necessarily the tools to do it, so she encouraged her students to run the race with her.
“Last year was my first year teaching, and I told my students that I was running the Crescent City Classic,” Feigler said. “They did not know what that was or what it means to commit to a goal. When they finished the race, they said, ‘Mrs. Feigler, that was incredible. I didn’t know I could run 6 miles.'”
Feigler said she was inspired by similar programs around the country like Students Run L.A., where over 3,000 children complete the Los Angeles marathon every year.
“Our goal next year is to expand into the city and include more schools,” Feigler said. “Next year, we are training for a half marathon, which is 13 miles, an even bigger goal.”
The Loyola track team and coach, Andy Canegitta, helped the organization by teaching the children about how to run, how to protect themselves from injury and how to pace their breathing.
“I told this girl how to put her hands over her head so she could open up her lung passages to get more air,” said Raven Lewis, track team member and mass communication freshman. “Not one time did I hear anybody complain, and it really just made me happy to see those kids out there running.”
Keenan Stevenson, a high school freshman, said the group helped him to bond with other students and maintain fitness.
“I have never pictured running Audubon Park before, doing the whole 5.4 miles,” Stevenson said. “Today, I feel like I accomplished one of my mom’s goals, because it was her goal to run Audubon Park, and I feel like I completed it for her.”
Kamaria Monmouth can
be reached at
Participants train for the Crescent City Classic in the Youth run in Audubon park. The Loyola track team collaborated with several schools in the area. (Kamaria Monmouth/The Maroon)
