The Elon University community gathered at Iconic Plaza on Sunday morning to raise funds and awareness for suicide prevention at the second-annual Trent Stetler 5K.
Trent Stetler, a student at Elon and member of the Alpha Kappa Psi fraternity committed suicide in 2015. Alpha Kappa Psi holds the run in his honor, raising money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
This year, there were more than 140 runners, and more than $4,000 in funds were raised.
Before the race, junior Katherine Klinger shared her personal story about her struggles with mental health.
“The importance of this event is to raise awareness that there are people who end up struggling more and more with their mental health, that they feel like there's no way to cope with the stressors in their life,” Klinger said. “We're raising money for advocacy, research and education that is going to allow us to provide the opportunity for people to not only become more aware of this topic but also stay alive.”
Junior and President of Alpha Kappa Psi Riley McCrossan said funding for mental health and suicide prevention is “really important in this day and age, especially on college campuses, and [Alpha Kappa Psi] is very determined in making that effort.”