Step Forward Day Recap: Cross Country/Track
9/12/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
MALIBU, Calif. - The 26th annual Step Forward Day was celebrated at Pepperdine on Saturday (Sept. 6), and the Waves' athletic teams were out in full force serving the community.
Thousands of students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends, as well as dozens of campus organizations, including classes, dorms, fraternities, sororities, and clubs, came together to assist nonprofit organizations, schools, churches and parks throughout Southern California.
Step Forward Day began in 1988 when two Pepperdine students recognized the need for volunteers in the local community and sought to encourage service among their peers. The projects began as small acts of service from helping to repair homes of local senior citizens to planting gardens at Webster Elementary School. Today the annual event has grown not only across Southern California, but also to communities nationwide as Pepperdine alumni step forward to help.
The cross country and track teams worked at a community garden in Los Angeles. Student-athlete Stasia Demick provided this account of her team's experience:
Step Forward Day is a Pepperdine community event involving 1,500 students, faculty, staff, and alumni. The cross country and track teams opted to postpone a typical 6 a.m. 16-mile run in order to give back to the community. The runners spent the day working at the L.A. community garden in the international district.
"I like getting away from campus and serving the community in different ways," women's team captain Katie Engel said. "It's great to explore different parts of the community and get in touch with my inner farming roots."
Upon arrival at 8 a.m., an enthusiastic garden manager named Al greeted the athletes. He warned the runners of the two 16-foot snakes that protected the garden from unwanted rodents. With that, the workout began, and the athletes split up into several task forces. Some uprooted weed-like trees, others made compost and many weeded beds. Everyone got their hands dirty and a small group got their feet dirty as well. A few combined sand, dirt, water and straw with their feet in order to make adobe. This clay-like material was then used on rocks in order to create flowerbed barriers.
"It's been really great to be able to help the team and the organizations," team leader Rachel Rant said. "Learning about organic composting and the ecology of the garden were my favorite parts."
The cross country and track teams' participation included two alumni, Channing Williamson and Summer Enalen. Both are school record holders in the 4x4 relay and the 100 meter hurdles, respectively. The graduates wanted to continue the legacy of service embedded in the team.
"Step Forward Day is a good way to give back. My team and coach are like family so I felt like this was a good way I could contribute," Enalen said.
After four hours of manual labor, the team said goodbye to Al and headed back to Pepperdine to get that 16-mile long run completed. This Step Forward Day was spent giving back to the neighborhoods that the athletes spend most days running through and around.
