Most of the time, college students take a test or write a paper to earn their grade.
But for Assistant Professor Lorraine Taylor’s event-management class at Fort Lewis College, students will pass or fail based on how well they plan an actual event – and the students elected to create one of a philanthropic bent.
One of them has a cousin who was seriously injured in a car crash. At this time, the cousin, former Durango resident and current Pagosa Springs resident Keagan Smith, is primarily in a wheelchair, and he is saving up for an orthotic C-brace that will get him back on his feet. The brace costs about $75,000. Smith’s incomplete spinal-cord injury makes him an ideal candidate for the brace, particularly because he is already making strides toward walking.
Registration for Kolors for Keagan, a 5K running race, will begin at 10 a.m., with the race kicking off at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Clocktower on the FLC campus. The best place to park, the students said, is the Education-Business parking lot.
One-hundred percent of the proceeds will benefit Smith, who is father to a young son.
“I think this is an excellent example of the partnership between FLC and the community,” Taylor said, “and shows the real-world experiences that are being offered to our students.”
The 25 students in the class pulled together a successful Snowdown event in just two weeks at the beginning of the semester, Taylor said, so she thinks they believed this would come together quickly. They spent the weekend mixing cornstarch and food coloring for the color part of the race and now have 50 pounds ready to throw.
“The Snowdown event was pretty low stakes, but this could be really meaningful,” Taylor said. “I asked them this week if they would remember the 93 they got on a quiz, or the $10,000 they made to help someone with something important.”
abutler@durangoherald.com
If you go
Visit http://bit.ly/1ys1is4 to preregister for Kolors for Keagan. Tickets are $10 for children 12 and younger, $20 for students and $30 for adults.
Donations may also be made directly to the Keagan Smith Foundation Fund at any Wells Fargo Bank or through the Keagan Smith GoFundMe account. People who make a donation are asked to bring the receipt to race registration for entry.
Participants are asked to wear sunglasses to keep the color dye out of their eyes. Dogs are not allowed on the Fort Lewis College campus.
