WSU management students fundraise for local charity
Wichita State students are taking the management 463 class to another level this fall.
Professor Brian Rawson has his classes doing a project in which the proceeds benefit a Wichita community organization of their choice. Senior Craig Swonger is taking the class this fall alongside five other classmates and are hosting a Ronald McDonald Run/Walk this Saturday on campus starting at 9:30 a.m.
“The teacher has the whole class divided up into teams of six and we had one idea of a 5K run/walk and another idea of doing something for the Ronald McDonald House Charities Wichita so we came up with the Ronald Run,” Swonger said.
The Ronald McDonald House Charities Wichita focuses on supporting and providing programs that directly improves the health and well being of children.
Other groups in the class are doing events with some benefitting Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Wounded Warrior Project.
The registration fee for students is $15, which includes a T-shirt if registered at least two weeks prior to Dec. 1.
“The price can be reduced to $10 if the students go to the Ronald McDonald website and bring two items off the list of items children need,” Swonger said.
Due to the fact that this is the first time all the students in the group have done something of this size, sponsors and volunteers will play a big role.
Senior Minyan Lui will be helping on Saturday.
“I heard of this event because my roommate Michelle Oh is part of the group who is putting the run on,” Lui said. She believes the hands-on project is a great way to gain experience in management.
Looking for sponsors along with the organization and advertising has been divided up between the group members: Jeremy Jahnson, Brendon Thackery, Jacob Truesdell, Matt Koerner, Oh and Swonger.
“Getting sponsors hasn’t been too hard,” Swonger said. “We tended to know someone who worked at the place we were asking at.”
With the race taking place on the perimeter of the campus, the group has needed to hire Wichita police to patrol the area to make sure nothing goes askew. Along with Wichita police there will be volunteers stationed at different points because of liability.
With such a small group of people organizing the event, Swonger said ideally they are shooting for 100 people.
“Anything less is OK but anything too much more than 100 people would be too much for us to handle,” Swonger said.
Professor Rawson informed his students of this project at the beginning of the semester and due to the time limit, the only available date the group could hold its event on campus was Dec. 1.
With the date being in the beginning of a winter month, one concern was that it would be too cold for the runners.
Runners are expected to show up at least 30 minutes before the start of the race and there will be water available. First, second and third-place trophies will be awarded to both males and females.