On Thursday, Oct. 9, the Keene State Sexual Violence Prevention coordination team hosted a “Run, Wheel, Walk” for dating and domestic violence awareness.
The walk started at 48 Butler Court, with the participants walking around campus, then finishing back where they started at the Court. The coordination team provided signs to spread positive messages as they walked along campus. Attendees were also given goodie bags during the walk, and the first five attendees were gifted a free T-shirt.
Catt Workman, the Office on Violence Against Women grant coordinator/sexual violence prevention specialist, spoke about the event and what it means to her and the coordination team as a whole.
“It’s all about raising awareness,” said Workman. “Dating and domestic violence, unfortunately, is so prevalent and a lot of times survivors are kind of in it, isolated, and can feel very alone. So we really like being able to elevate their voices and ensure that they know that they are not alone, and they don’t have to feel that way. We just want to raise awareness of how prevalent it is. We really focus on signs of a healthy versus an unhealthy relationship, characteristics, and traits so we can prevent any harm from happening in the first place.”
The Sexual Violence Prevention brand assistants and student grant assistants of the Coordination Team were also in attendance— senior Isabella Myers and junior Riley Gilman.
“We’re here, we’re on campus. Even with everything going on, we’re here for students, for faculty, anyone. And there are resources for you. If you are a friend of a survivor, if you’re a survivor, there’s a place on campus to help you with whatever problem you’ve got going on right now, and we want you to know what your resources are and what your options are,” said Myers.
“Preparing was really fun,” added Gilman. “We did that together. We got a lot of attention for this event, mainly through TVs and Instagram, as well as creating posters. So it was a lot of work but everyone’s been really helpful.”
Attending the event was sophomore Conner James Young, who spoke about what the event meant to him.
“I saw it [advertisements] around campus, and I thought it was a very good message. I like to show up to these things,” said Young. “I want to get the message out there. If you want to support, show the support. And if you want to get your voice heard, if you want to show up, then show up.”
Noelle Hisgen can be reached at
