Stuyvesant Holds Fourth Annual International Women’s Day Run

Stuyvesant students ran along the Hudson River in the fourth annual International Women’s Day Run on March 18, March 22, and March 27. The original dates of the run included March 21, but the date was rained out and postponed to March 27.

The goal of the run was to raise awareness about women’s issues. “By having this event, we bring awareness [regarding] this disparity between women and men that a lot of people don’t recognize,” said senior Jeanette Cheung, who organized the event. “There’s still a glass ceiling even in subjects like CS or physics, and a lot of people just aren’t aware.”

Both Cheung and her fellow co-organizer, senior Kayla Lew, worked hard to get sponsors for the event. “We started off by contacting sponsors because we are known to give out a lot of free snacks, drinks, and stickers,” Lew said. Sponsors this year included Bare Apple Chips, Skinny Dipped Almonds, Kuymi Quinoa Bars, and Thunderbird Bars for food, as well as StickerGiant for stickers.

In addition, the organizers held a raffle for a Chipotle gift card, a Sticker Mule store credit, and Praxis Tutors vouchers. T-shirts were also sold for $1. The money raised from the raffle and T-shirt sales is going to Every Mother Counts, an organization that strives to prevent maternal deaths especially in developing nations. The charity was picked by the Stuyvesant community through a Google Form on the event’s Facebook page. In all, over $800 was raised for Every Mother Counts.

Seven hundred twenty-eight students and faculty members signed up for the event. “I actually ran in the event last year, and this year, I wanted to contribute to make the event run smoothly,” sophomore volunteer Serena Chan said.

Cheung and Lew made a concerted effort to convince teachers to give extra credit for participating in the event, and 13 teachers from a wide variety of departments, including social studies, health, foreign language, and physical education agreed to do so. Sophomore Leo Yuan said, for example, that he was running to both receive extra credit toward his math class and support the cause.

History teacher Lisa Greenwald asked students to create an authentic sign that made a feminist argument, supported a women's cause, or celebrated a great woman in history in order to receive extra credit. “People wrote empowering messages, and one person made a big sign and had Saran Wrap with an unbroken ceiling to empower women to break the ceiling,” Cheung said.

Students also had the opportunity to write about who they are empowered by through putting Post-its on a first floor wall. They were also able to take pictures inside frames that said “empowHERed.” “I found the run to be inspiring, and I loved the atmosphere, which made the event really successful,” sophomore Margaret Woo said.