Catawba College senior Anne Brafford of China Grove is majoring in elementary education at Catawba College and is striving to be a teacher. She knows from her student teaching experience this fall at Enochville Elementary School just how difficult it can be for some students to get the school supplies they need to be successful in class.
Brafford discovered one way she could help remedy this situation in her home county was to write a grant. A member of Catawba’s Student N.C. Association of Educators and former member of Catawba’s cross-country team, she came up with the idea of a 5K Sprint for School Supplies. Thanks to an $825 grant she received from the N.C. Association of Educators, the donations of local businesses, assistance from members of the local community, and her own hard work, Brafford will see her idea realized April 19 in Landis.
The Sprint for Supplies will start at 9:30 a.m. at the Landis Pool. There, participants who have paid the registration fee and made a donation of school supplies will run or walk along a 5K course. Their efforts will benefit Rowan County’s Communities in Schools.
For registration information, visit www.catawba.edu/schoolsprint5K or sportoften.com. The registration fee is $15 if paid before April 16, and $20 if paid after that date. Participants who register on the day of the 5K can pay a $15 registration fee if they make a donation of a school supplies.
The grant funds, plus donations Brafford has solicited from local businesses, will provide race bibs, T-shirts, plaques, medals and refreshments for race participants. Sponsors include the town of Landis, David Freeze of Rowan Runners, Goodman’s Farm Supplies of China Grove, Ideal Janitorial Services of China Grove, Merrell Family Dentistry of Landis, Bradshaw Finance of Salisbury, Centerview Hardware or Kannapolis, The Forum of Salisbury, SA Sloop Heating and Air of Landis, Piedmont Alloy of Salisbury, and Windstream Communications of Landis.
During the 2013-14 academic year, Brafford, who is a West Scholar in Catawba’s Ritchie Academy of Teaching, served as Student Government Association executive board vice president and president of Kappa Delta Pi, the teacher education honor society. She has also been active on campus in the Lilly Center’s Retreat Leadership Corps.