The University homecoming service committee added another “palooza” to the events of homecoming festivities.
RUNapalooza, a 5k walk/run, promoted hunger awareness in the Baton Rouge community, said Claudia Valbuena, public administration graduate student and graduate adviser for service subcommittee of the Homecoming Student Committee.
She said Baton Rouge has a huge running community and students wanted to incorporate a 5k in the service component, connected to CANapalooza.
Valbuena said the object of the race was to raise money for the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and educate runners about hunger issues locally and nationally.
“Hunger facts were placed along the race route to give runners an education piece as to what hunger is in the community and what the food bank does,” she said.
About 50 participants ran the race this year, but Valbuena said she hopes this race has set a solid foundation for years to come.
“I could see it truly growing and becoming like a festival, like RUNapalooza sounds, maybe involving more families and alumni and having a larger event that kicks off homecoming,she said”
The first participant to finish the race, physics senior Joey Layton, said he learned about the run online and wanted to participate because it is for a good cause.
“I’d rather use the money for this race as opposed to going to buy something,” Layton said.
Alex Gulino, engineering sophomore and the second participant to finish, said she learned interesting facts about hunger along the race route.
Gulino said she heard about the race through her sorority.
After the race, participants were asked to attend the official homecoming kick-off in the ballroom of the Student Union. The top five male and female racers were recognized and awarded prizes from Caliente Mexican Craving.
The kick-off also featured Mike Manning, president and CEO for the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, comedian Steve Hofstetter, cheerleaders and Mike the Tiger.
The CANapalooza service project will also see some changes this year.
The Tiger Stadium structure will be built again, but Valbuena said the committee“wanted to add something else to it to spice things up.”
Mike the Tiger’s habitat will be built alongside Tiger Stadium this year, she said.
The architect who constructed last year’s Tiger Stadium has returned this year to construct this year’s Tiger Stadium as well as Mike’s habitat.
Valbuena said last year’s Tiger Stadium took two days and 23,000 cans to construct. She said Mike’s habitat is on a smaller scale, only requiring 3,000 cans.
The homecoming service committee asks various organizations and departments on campus to participate in collecting cans. Greek Life and the University Student Recreational Complex are strong supporters of the CANapalooza project.
“We pull from a lot of different areas on campus, and luckily people are more than willing to participate,” Valbuena said.
