Last Saturday morning, Aug. 30, at the Noonan Courtyard, runners stretched, and young children ran through the legs of volunteers and students before the race began at the College of Computing (CoC) Fun Run. The race gave students, faculty and youth an opportunity to show their school spirit, enjoy prizes and music and participate in a spirited race.<\/p>\n
Word of the run had spread quickly. Computer science students joked about the barrage of \u201cspam\u201d emails from the college in the days leading up, yet many still turned out. Free for CoC members and just $5 for all others, the event drew students, families and community members who crowded the finish line to cheer or clung to benches for a sliver of shade under the blazing sun.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first of three races started bright and early at 8:30 a.m., where young children ages seven to twelve lined up next to a giant inflatable \u201cFinish\u201d sign, ready for the start gun. With the \u201cthwack\u201d of the shot, the little ones took off, racing against the clock as nearby parents, CoC staff and volunteers blasted music and cheered loudly. The second race began just the same, this time with teenage runners, some showing off their school spirit in cross-country uniforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the sun began to shine brightly through the clouds, the third and final race \u2014 open to both Tech faculty and students \u2014 started roughly 10 minutes late to accommodate the massive wave of last-minute sign-ups. Jackets armed with safety pins and numbered bibs paced the lobby of the Klaus Advanced Computing Building, savoring the last seconds of precious air conditioning before stepping into the blazing sun to complete the 5K. The students ranged from skilled runners warming up and stretching in solitary corners, sporting AirPods and\u00a0 trusty macro bars, while others were seen mingling and giggling over their plans to walk the entire 3.1 miles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to run in my spare time. This is kind of like one of my hobbies\u2026I haven\u2019t gone running in a while, so I\u2019m trying to get back [and] just do it in like a respectable time,\u201d said Miles Rosenstrauch<\/a>, second-year CS, joking that his friends were \u201ctoo lazy\u201d to sign up with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other students were drawn in by friends and saw it as an opportunity for some light-hearted competition and a return to form.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMe and my friend did cross country and track in high school, so he said we should just pull up to the race,\u201d explained Darshan Patel<\/a>, first-year BMED. \u201c[Tech] is a very walker and biker friendly school. I haven\u2019t seen so many people running around (leisurely) in my hometown\u2026I\u2019m like dang that\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n The Fun Run was also advertised to Tech staff and master\u2019s students so they could join in on the fun to foster a livelier, more well-connected community within the CoC. The race served as a great way for graduate students new to Tech to become more acclimated with the campus and socialize with like-minded people, as most early-semester events are primarily targeted towards undergraduates.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is my first time doing [the race] because I just wanted to try something new and I love running. It was an org-wide email and I registered \u2026 It\u2019s pretty challenging [to be a master\u2019s student] but I think it\u2019s rewarding, I did my undergrad in India\u2026but it\u2019s a really big campus and it\u2019s really pretty and I\u2019ve been liking my time so far,\u201d remarked Hima Parasa<\/a>, MS CS.<\/p>\n The event brimmed with energy despite its early start. Kids zigzagged across the rainbow steps before the Klaus Building, playing tag and weaving in between CoC volunteers and staff. Laughter carried across the crowd as spectators filmed their colleagues comically stumbling across the finish line. With sweat-soaked shirts and sunburned shoulders, students and faculty sprawled on the grass, panting and laughing together. As exhausting as running can be, the shared sense of exasperation seemed to unify everyone \u2014 children and adults, students and professors alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n The CoC worked hard to gather attendance for the event, regularly posting about the race on its social media platforms and repeatedly emailing members of the college. This advertising push led to strong participation and amplified school spirit, and every runner walked away with free snacks, T-shirts from sponsoring companies and a pristine College of Computing tumbler.<\/p>\n Yet, the seamless promotion and accessibility of the 5K also highlighted a contrast: several students remarked that they often struggle to find information about other Tech events, resources and opportunities, raising broader questions about how the Institute communicates and connects with its community.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[Tech\u2019s] online resources can be a bit confusing because they have a lot of information and the websites are kind of similar, so you get lost \u2026 I mainly make use of the upperclassmen than Georgia Tech,\u201d remarked international student Elchin Hasanov<\/a>, first-year CS.<\/p>\n The concern reflects a broader frustration: even when resources exist, students often find it difficult to navigate the system, leaving them uncertain about where to go or who to contact for guidance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf I need to [talk to an advisor] then I don\u2019t really know who to contact\u2026Like it\u2019s not really been brought up who my advisor is or what their email is or where to go to ask for help. All I know is to go to the Dean of Students, but I don\u2019t really know who my advisor is,\u201d said Patel<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The reflections from first-years suggest that future events and organizations should prioritize accessibility and clear communication, especially for those new to Tech. Still, the morning\u2019s races showed how shared effort and spirited planning can bring all types of people together.<\/p>\n With music, laughter and a few sore legs, the CoC proved that building community can be as simple as going the extra mile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last Saturday morning, Aug. 30, at the Noonan Courtyard, runners stretched, and young children ran through the legs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[64,63,257,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-121829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-computing","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}