Brown and White Vol. 129 no. 21

              The Brown and White Vol. 129 No. 21
Tuesday, November 17, 2015 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
Chris Barry/B&W Staff
TOP: From left, Russell Beatty, ’16, Stephen Kelly, ’16, Joe D’Onofrio,
’17, and (front) Jeff Kasle, ’16, stretch before the 59th annual Turkey
Trot on Thursday. The race, which was about 2.6 miles long, started
near the Front Lawn and traveled through the Hill.
BOTTOM: Mike Horgan, ’16, runs down Sayre Drive toward the finish
on Thursday, Horgan won the race, followed by Alex Hiznay, ’16, and
Evan Gaj, ’16.
Almost 600 students and faculty
joined together this past Thursday
at the Packer Memorial Church to
embark on the 59th annual Turkey
Trot, an uphill, two-and-a-half mile
race around campus.
This year, Michael Horgan, ’16,
took first place, followed by Alex
Hiznay, ’16, in second and Evan
Gaj, ’16, in third.
The Turkey Trot is an intramural
event that takes place every year,
rain or shine. While the course of
the race has evolved over time as a
result of changes in Lehigh’s land-scape,
the turnout and purpose of
the event has remained the same.
President John Simon was the first
person to sign up to run in this
year’s Turkey Trot, which started
in front of the Packer Memorial
Church and ended on the UC Front
Lawn.
“If you want tradition, there it is,”
said Jane Josephson, the director of
Intramural Sports and Recreation
at Lehigh, who oversees the plan-ning
of the Turkey Trot. “I don’t
think there’s anything older in
terms of Lehigh-Laf spirit events,
except the football game.”
Josephson said participants
aren’t encouraged to wear costumes
or unique clothing, yet year after
year students come out in a diverse
array of costumes, ranging from
Santa Claus to pilgrims and tur-keys,
and sometimes even bananas.
She said as long as none of the cos-tumes
are vulgar, she doesn’t mind
if students dress up.
Barb Turanchik, the director of
club sports, has been at Lehigh for
35 years. She helps Josephson plan
the Turkey Trot, and has watched
the race evolve over the years. She
said there used to be more stu-dent
participation, but that spirit
week — the week leading up to the
By EMMA FRIED
Associate News Editor
Ignite LU helps students fund projects
Ignite LU, which was started
in 2013 as a fundraising website
run by the Lehigh Advancement
team, promotes a philanthropic
opportunity for student-run proj-ects.
The gifts provided through
Ignite LU allow students to move
forward with projects or events
that need a specific amount of
funding to continue. Ignite
LU allows students to procure
funds for trips, projects, fund-raisers,
fraternities or sorori-ties.
Students can apply online
through the Ignite LU website
By LAURYN RAGONE
Assistant News Editor
Lehigh-Lafayette football game —
also had more hype back then.
However, Turanchik believes
people still choose to run in the
Turkey Trot each year because it
becomes part of their Lehigh expe-rience.
Turanchik said the cycling
club leads the race to prevent peo-ple
from getting lost.
“It’s nice to walk away from your
university saying you did some-thing
like this more than once,”
Turanchik said. “Some people have
pride about running it all four
years, it becomes part of their tra-dition
at Lehigh.”
Henry Smither, a fifth-year stu-dent,
said this was his fifth year
participating in the run. He signed
up freshman year because he was
on the crew team and they all
signed up, and other years he want-ed
intramural points and a free
t-shirt. This year, he signed up
because he wanted to participate
during his final semester at Lehigh.
to be considered as a sponsored
Lehigh project.
Karen Sims, the director of
information processing, and
Doug Ebersole, the director of the
Lehigh fund special programs and
participation, review applications
and accept projects they feel are
notable to the Lehigh community.
Sims said they typically project
12 to 15 projects a year, and some
years the same groups reapply.
To receive funds for their proj-ect,
students submit a description
of the project online to the Ignite
LU project page. Donors interest-ed
in supporting a student proj-ect
can read in detail about the
project and decide if they want to
donate to the cause. The donors
have the ability to connect with
an interest they may have at
Lehigh.
Past projects included memori-al
scholarship funds, community
service programs, fundraising for
student programs at the Newman
Center and fundraising for Choral
Arts.
“We have had at least half fully
funded or over funded (projects,)
meaning the groups have raised
more than their initial goal,”
Sims said. “Some don’t do as well
and that results from students
not marketing their project.”
See IGNITE Page 3
See TROT Page 4
Turkey Trot kicks off 151st Rivalry
Lehigh’s longest-running spirit week tradition
Klaudia Jazwinska/Made with Canva