This May, staff, faculty, and students from Ross Medical Education Center in Bowling Green, Kentucky decided to have some fun while raising awareness about an important issue in their community and across the country. Led by Mrs. Sarah Beckner, an instructor in the Bowling Green Medical Assistant program, a team of Ross students participated in the CASA of Southern Kentucky Superhero 5K. All of the Ross team members finished in under an hour and had a wonderful time enjoying the outdoors, dressing up, getting some exercise, and raising awareness.
True to the superhero theme, faculty and students dressed up for the event. A group of them could think of no better superheroes to dress up as than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Mrs. Beckner was Donatello, Bree Estes was Raphael, Jamie Estes was Leonardo, and Tammy Williams was Michelangelo. Then, Jasmine Beasley dressed up as Superman and Tiana Rife was The Flash. All of the superheroes had a great time in their pursuit of saving their community’s children from child abuse.
The agency that benefited from this event was Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of South Central Kentucky, Inc. CASA is a non-profit agency in the local community that is dedicated to preventing abuse and eliminating further trauma to children. Specifically, CASA works to protect child victims of abuse, neglect, and dependency from further abuse by providing trained community volunteers to advocate for them in the foster care and family court systems. The CASA concept is based on the commitment that every child has the right to a safe, permanent home as soon as possible.
The Bowling Green campus chose to actually participate in the event instead of just set up a Ross booth, because they are passionate about ending child abuse in their community. While at the walk, representatives from the campus were interviewed by Bowling Green Daily News, the local newspaper, and were very appreciative of the opportunity to express their views and excitement to be a part of such an incredible event. Students and staff agreed they’d rather be a part of the 5k rather than just pass out water to those walking.
To find out more about CASA and how you can help, visit the CASA Facebook page or their website at www.casaofsck.org.