{"id":264101,"date":"2026-04-24T08:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T08:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/264101\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T08:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T08:24:17","slug":"meet-the-high-schoolers-organizing-a-5k-in-san-antonio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/264101\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the high schoolers organizing a 5K in San Antonio"},"content":{"rendered":"

After immersing themselves in running culture, Veeraj Bajaj, Park Higdon and Colston Book wanted to find a way to give back to their community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trio of varsity cross country runners at St. Mary\u2019s Hall created SevaRun<\/a>, a nonprofit organization. Their first 5K is on Sunday, April 26 at Lady Bird Johnson Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe noticed that we have a lot more discipline, a lot more mental health, a lot more social health because we hang out with all of our friends and we have a really fun time,\u201d Bajaj said. \u201cWe just appreciate all that running has given to us and it seemed almost like an obligation to help make running more accessible to more people.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The plan is to save 100% of the proceeds raised from their first 5K toward their goal of purchasing running gear for disadvantaged youth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren outgrow their sizes pretty fast, so that means they will definitely need to buy so many more shoes,\u201d Higdon said. \u201cSan Antonio has quite a few ZIP codes below the poverty line, and this is exactly where we want to make a difference, to the children there.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Running equipment that the athletes frequently use include backpacks, running cleats and spikes, resistance bands, muscle rolling tools and water bottles. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Part of the organization\u2019s name, \u201cSeva\u201d \u2014 which means selfless service \u2014 is a core tenet of Bajaj\u2019s religion, Sikhism. A few years ago, Bajaj\u2019s sister Rabani created a nonprofit called Seva-Art<\/a>, which encouraged students to donate art to benefit the San Antonio Food Bank.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur intent is selfless service to children in San Antonio by providing them with the gear to run,\u201d Bajaj said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo us, selfless service means some form of integrity driven service. We don\u2019t require anything in exchange,\u201d Higdon said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been volunteering for a really long time at the food bank, Haven for Hope and other organizations, and now we have started a nonprofit that can benefit the youth on a larger scale.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It costs $10 to register for the SevaRun 5K and those ages 10 and under can register for the event\u2019s \u201cKiddie Kilometer\u201d for no cost. The group is also accepting donations<\/a> on its website.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Co-founder Park Higdon and Founder Veeraj Bajaj sport their Seva Run t-shirts on the Saint Mary\u2019s Hall high school track and field on April 22, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

The students have secured sponsorships from H-E-B and Frost Bank, which will provide refreshments at the end of the race.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have some vendors at the park, and people can loiter about, maybe check out some vendors,\u201d Bajaj said. \u201cIt\u2019s just going to be kind of a show \u2014 we\u2019ll play some music after the event, everyone gets a medal.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Sunday\u2019s run, the group\u2019s next step is buying shoes and running gear to donate, but they haven\u2019t decided exactly where the gear will go.\u00a0They are discussing potential partnerships with organizations and local schools.<\/p>\n

Higdon said their goal is to help \u201c300 children by the end of this event and 1,000 kids by the end of next year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even before this year\u2019s event, the sophomores plan to keep the run going every year. After they graduate from the private school, they plan to pass the organization on to their classmates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"High school students Park Higdon and Veeraj Bajaj demonstrate running warmups before running together at the Saint Mary\u2019s Hall track and field on April 22, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cOur school has been very supportive and they\u2019ve helped us advertise it during our Friday school-wide assembly, and they\u2019ve let us put up posters around campus, and we\u2019ve also had many faculty members and students sign up, with still so many more to come,\u201d Higdon said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have one of those T-shirt cannons we\u2019re going to use at our next assembly,\u201d Bajaj added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bajaj and Higdon said organizing the run meant countless early mornings speaking at local run clubs and hours of making calls and planning. But the trio had the support of their friends, family, coaches and community members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For other teenagers wanting to get a project off the ground, the group\u2019s advice is this:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to be bold, and if you\u2019re going to go for it, you have to go for it \u2014 you have to do it with your 100% effort.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After immersing themselves in running culture, Veeraj Bajaj, Park Higdon and Colston Book wanted to find a way…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[39453,98869,98870,1725,4805,98871,15338,1968,4396,98872,82,84,83,17921,98873,98874,98875,98876,92,3028,23172],"class_list":{"0":"post-264101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-5k","9":"tag-5k-run","10":"tag-cross-country-runners","11":"tag-high-school","12":"tag-icymi","13":"tag-lady-bird-johnson-park","14":"tag-nonprofit-organization","15":"tag-religion","16":"tag-running","17":"tag-running-gear","18":"tag-san-antonio","19":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","20":"tag-san-antonio-news","21":"tag-service","22":"tag-sevarun","23":"tag-sevarun-5k","24":"tag-sikhism","25":"tag-st-marys-hall","26":"tag-top-story","27":"tag-typedaily","28":"tag-volunteering"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}