Temple University honored our veterans on Tuesday with it’s second annual Military Appreciation race. Faculty and staff were invited to participate in a 1-mile walk, 5K run, and a Rucksack relay. The Rucksack relay is a symbolic race where participants carry a 30 lbs bag on their shoulders.
Kim Celano, the Coordinator of Military Appreciation Events said, “A Rucksack that a soldier would carry in combat can average anywhere from 40-45 lbs, with all of their gear in it, so to symbolize that we’ve put a case of water in those bags so it makes it about 30 lbs.
Medals were given for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place 5K finishers, and every participant who registered in advance by October 29, received a free T-shirt. Not only were students and faculty present, some participants even traveled from out of state to attend the race.
Denzel Lanagan, an active Marine and Geographic Information Systems major said this event 
was important for all of our brothers and sisters overseas and he was genuinely impressed with the turnout of the race.
“The energy is phenomenal, that is the word we use in the Marine Corps. Great, wonderful time, motivation to the all-time high. It’s like sugar, sugar, sugared content”, said Lanagan.
Temple University is ranked as a Best College for Veterans by U.S. News & World Report, and for the eighth consecutive year as one of the nation’s top Military Friendly Schools for 2018. To kick off Veterans Day, Temple’s Military and Veteran Services Center had events lined up including the race, to honor all who served.
Laura Reddick, Associate Director of Military and Veteran Student Support and Programs emphasized how vital it is to support our veterans and thank them for their service:
“We have these events to create a military awareness so that people know that we do have a large military population and we want our veterans to know that we love them and we really want to thank them for their service.”
The event took place during National Military Family Month.Students and faculty were encouraged to bring canned goods and drop them in the bins that were displayed at the check-in tables to donate to the Cherry Pantry.
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