Campus exceeds goal for SUNYAC 10 Million Yards for Yeardley

Editor's Note: Results from the event; total count was 1,451,363.4 yards walked by students, faculty, staff and community members during Fredonia's SUNYAC Yards for Yeardley's event. There were 276 walkers...and two dogs. The majority of the walkers were student-athletes, joined by faculty, staff and athletic boosters.

Time to tie those sneakers/running shoes/trainers, whatever you call them, it’s time for the SUNYAC 10 Million Yards for Yeardley event from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 26 at Fredonia, and organizers are hoping for wide campus and community participation.

Fredonia student members and campus organizers included SAAC      President Ben Chatley (standing, far leftr), Director of Athletics Greg      Prechtl (standing, third from left), Jaklyn Van Manen of the One Love      Foundation (standing, fourth from left), Associate Director of Athletics      Megan Valentine (far right), SAAC moderator and women's soccer      coach Chris Case (kneeling, left), and SUNYAC Commissioner       Tom Di Camillo (kneeling, right).

The State University of New York Athletic Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has organized the walk through the One Love Foundation as a domestic violence awareness event to be held on all 10 SUNYAC-affiliated campuses during the week of April 23. The One Love Foundation was established in memory of Yeardley Love, a student at the University of Virginia who was beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend, with the goal of bringing an end to relationship violence by “educating, empowering and activating campus communities in a movement for change.”

The goal is to have people run/walk one million cumulative yards on the Fredonia campus, on a two-lap route around Dods and Steele halls. If the weather is fine, the walk will begin at a balloon arch adjacent to the outdoor pavilion in the Dods grove, if inclement, it will begin at the front main door of Dods Hall (across from Mason Hall). The first 200 people to walk four laps will receive a free t-shirt.

One of the major organizers of the event SUNYAC-wide is men’s swim team captain Ben Chatley, a junior Social Studies Adolescence Education major at Fredonia, who was recently honored for his involvement with domestic violence awareness training for student-athletes.

What a great way to work toward those 10,000 steps!