The Seneca Valley Foundation presents the 2nd Annual Ryan Gloyer Memorial Run with Ms. Annie Mersing

Lace up your sneakers for the 2nd Annual Ryan Gloyer Memorial Run (5K Run/Walk), Sunday, Nov. 3 on SV's Secondary Campus in Harmony, PA. In this episode, you'll learn more about the event, how to register and the overall mission of the Ryan Gloyer Memorial Run.

IN THIS EPISODE, WE WILL REVIEW

• What is the Ryan Gloyer Memorial Run?
• Where and when the event will take place and who can participate. 
• The mission of the Ryan Gloyer Memorial Run.
• What the event proceeds go toward?
• How can someone register for the event.

SPECIAL GUEST
Ms. Annie Mersing, Seneca Valley Foundation Director of Development

Ms. Annie Mersing earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Concentration in Management from Robert Morris University. Ms. Mersing has been in the Seneca Valley School District since 2019, first serving as the Executive Assistant to the Superintendent of Schools.  Now in the role as the Director of Development for the Seneca Valley Foundation, Ms. Mersing also serves as the District's Director of Advancement and provides assistance with securing and writing District grants.

Transcript

FULL TRANSCRIPT (with timecode)

 00:00:02:26 - 00:00:23:17

Jeff Krakoff: Welcome to Voices, a national award-winning podcast brought to you by the Seneca Valley School District. This is Jeff Krakoff. Today I'm joined with Annie Mersing, who is Seneca Valley's Advancement Director and also Director of Development at the Seneca Valley Foundation. Thanks for joining us today. 

 00:00:24:01 - 00:00:25:10

Annie Mersing: Yeah, thank you for having me. 

 00:00:25:24 - 00:00:40:06

Jeff Krakoff: So we want to talk about an event that I think some people are going to be familiar with, but maybe not the Ryan Goyer Memorial run. Can you tell us a little bit of what that event is and what it's all about? 

 00:00:40:10 - 00:02:25:22

Annie Mersing: Yes, I'm ecstatic to do that. So, as you know, and as you said, the Seneca Valley Foundation, it's the nonprofit arm of the district. We are a private 501(c)(3) dedicated to providing really an extraordinary educational experience at Seneca Valley School District. We do this with the help of the community by connecting resources and hosting fundraisers just like this 5K. Um, so the Sergeant first Class Ryan Gloyer Memorial run is the second annual time will be coming together on Seneca Valley's beautiful secondary campus to honor the life and legacy of Sergeant First Class Ryan A Gloyer. Um, it's again presented by Westinghouse, which we appreciate that partnership and the race serves to highlight the many amazing attributes this man had. Um, to remind students and really, the entire community of Ryan's ultimate sacrifice and even more importantly, preserve his legacy of being inclusive, selfless, dedicated, and a true American hero. Uh, Ryan was a Seneca Valley alumnus. He graduated with the class of 2000. Um, and during his time at Seneca Valley and really beyond, he was a tremendous athlete. He ran track, he played soccer, he pushed his body's limits, and he even performed in a few, um, musicals. So we felt a fun, energetic, family friendly 5K was the perfect way to honor him. Um, and for me personally, while I didn't graduate from SV, I was a part of the class of 2000 from Highlands High School, and in my mind, the best way to summarize this event in a song is through YouTube's famous hit, released in 2000, "It's a Beautiful Day." And we hope our Seneca Valley community will be a part of it and really see firsthand why it was so beautiful. 

 00:02:26:14 - 00:02:49:26

Jeff Krakoff: All right. You mentioned a little bit, you know, what the race is all about, but can you expand a little bit more about the mission? I know it's to make people aware of what a, what an incredible person Ryan Gloyer was. Um, but tell me a little bit. Why why the District's holding this? I know there's a fundraising component to what's the overall mission?  

 00:02:49:28 - 00:04:22:07

Annie Mersing: So in my mind, the ultimate mission of the race is to pay tribute to a man who paid the ultimate sacrifice. As I've said, yeah, he did that for all of us, but also to inspire our students. Um, Ryan enlisted in the Army after graduating from Teal College. Um, he had a teaching degree from there. And then during his time in the Army, he made several attempts to join the Army Special Forces, but he kept failing. He failed a couple times, but he never gave up. He never gave up on that dream of becoming a Green Beret. Um, and so ultimately, in September of 2014, Ryan did it. He donned his own Green Beret. Um, and even after that, he continued training in many different ways, from language instruction and free fall training, which I didn't never even knew was a thing. Um, he was always pushing himself, pushing himself to do more and to do it and to be better. Um, following that, he was assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group, second Battalion, which was located in Fort Carson, Colorado, and he deployed from there several times to different places, um, through the world and ultimately and sadly perished in Afghanistan and on November 3rd, 2016, in support of Operation Freedom Sentinel. Um, so that grit and determination and drive to be as best are just some of the many characteristics that we want to remember and highlight through hosting this race. But as I said, we really want to inspire students to be more like that, to set goals, to be kind, and to succeed at making dreams come true, just like he did. 

 00:04:22:14 - 00:04:38:26

Jeff Krakoff: Yeah, not just students, I think staff, administrators, parents. I think we can all learn a lesson about perseverance from him. So tell me a little bit about the event you mentioned. It's a 5K. Where is it going to take place. When is it going to take place. 

 00:04:38:28 - 00:06:10:25

Annie Mersing: Yeah. So the race will be on our beautiful secondary campus on Sunday, November 3rd at 9 a.m.. Um, the start and finish line is directly in front of Ryan's namesake building, the Ryan Gloyer Middle School. Um, and we're really calling on everyone, encouraging everyone to participate. I can tell you at last year's event, one of the greatest glories was watching families cross the finish line together that included grandparents, small babies and children and strollers or wagons. Even some teenagers were willing to be seen in public with their parents, if you can believe that, it was an amazing sight. Um, so the course is open for runners and walkers. We have many volunteers along the route to help anyone in need should they need it, and we'll even have a water station again midway that is worked by Ms. Katie Smolter and our fantastic girls lacrosse team, and that's something I wanted to mention as well. We really hope to have additional groups, um, and sports teams from Seneca to join us solely to line the route and cheer on our participants as they compete in the race. So we encourage any group that that would be that would be willing to do that to get in touch with me. But again, the race is open for all of Seneca Valley and beyond. We have folks coming from across the country to be here. Um, and we would really love to see more students join us this year, especially those attending Ryan Gloyer Middle School, because again, we want to highlight who he is and why that building is named after him. Um, so yeah. 

 00:06:12:00 - 00:06:32:29

Jeff Krakoff: Annie, as mentioned, it's for everybody. You can be a seasoned runner. 5K, I did my quick, uh, translation it's just over three miles. So even if you're walking three miles, I think it's something that everybody can try to do. And again, as a testament to, to Ryan, you know, finish what you started, right. 

 00:06:33:01 - 00:06:38:09

Annie Mersing: Walking, running, wheeling, cheering any way you want to cross that finish line. We welcome you to be there. 

 00:06:38:15 - 00:06:49:19

Jeff Krakoff: All right. So so you did mention this is the second annual. Tell me a little bit about the first year last year. Um how did it go. How much money was raised. How was that money used? 

 00:06:50:04 - 00:07:08:04

Annie Mersing: Yeah. Last year was just an incredible success on so many levels. We help with the help of over 376 runners, some amazing sponsors and volunteer manpower. We raised over $36,000 to be used solely for Ryan Gloyer Middle School. 

 00:07:08:06 - 00:07:09:03

Jeff Krakoff: That's amazing. 

 00:07:09:05 - 00:08:12:02

Annie Mersing: Yeah, it was. It was overwhelming to be honest. The day was perfect weather wise and just the energy was, um, it was palpable. And I just hope we can do that again this year. Um, and as far as what we've been able to do with those funds, we have been able to install new equipment in the Ryan Gloyer fitness center. Uh, we help fund the after school program, which has been a great safe space for Ryan Gloyer Middle School students. Um, and we've funded the Community Grown project that connects those students with each of Seneca's nine municipalities and boroughs. So they go out into the community and they, you know, paint, um, curbs like sidewalk curbs or do whatever a municipality may need. We try to get those kiddos connected more to who we are as Seneca. Um, and finally, we've provided brand new T-shirts to every kid that walks into Ryan Gloyer Middle School. They get a free. Uh, really nice T-shirt that they wear to, um, you know, show that they're part of that building. 

 00:08:12:29 - 00:08:19:17

Jeff Krakoff: Okay. Is there anything different planned for this year versus the inaugural event? 

 00:08:19:27 - 00:09:38:24

Annie Mersing: Yeah, So two notable things. And the first, um, and sadly, about this year's race is that it falls on the eighth anniversary of Ryan's death. Uh, when the planning committee realized that. And that includes Ryan's father, um, stepmother and stepsister, his best friend from high school and a few other amazing women. When we all realized that date and its significance, we collectively took a deep breath and just felt even more energized to make this year a greater success and to make Ryan proud as he smiles down on all of us. Um, so with that, another difference. This year we're adding a space coined the Community Commissary, which is meant to help engage more of the community, um, and kind of bring us together. So a place for our sponsors, non-profit organizations and for profit businesses. Um, they can share their resources and information about their products and services. So that'll be a really great place kind of for Seneca Valley to be represented. Um, and we hope it connects more pieces of us and helps us get to know each other a little bit better. Um, so for additional information for that space, we can everyone can go on to the Seneca Valley Foundation section of the website. Um, and there you'll find additional details as well as the contact info for the space coordinator for the Community Commissary. 

 00:09:38:29 - 00:09:43:24

Jeff Krakoff: Okay. Can people also register at that same section of the website? 

 00:09:44:06 - 00:10:46:20

Annie Mersing: Yeah. So information is available for registration on the website as well. We also have a Facebook event page, and if you want to just go directly to the sign-up portal, we are using RunSignup.Com so that is runsignup.com/RyanGloyerMemorialRun. There you'll find all applicable information about the race like the course times stuff like that. And you'll be able to ultimately sign up. And also there you'll see a list of all of our sponsors. Again, this race is presented by Westinghouse. We have some great T-shirt sponsors, which includes Eckles Construction, MPLX, Barrel Automotive, and the Green Beret Foundation. And really so many other wonderful sponsors that have some first timers and some that are repeat sponsors that I really want to highlight and recognize. Um, because they are doing their best to make this day a success. And I would ask our community to support those businesses and to recognize those families that are sponsoring the event. Um, and let's run for Ryan. 

 00:10:47:06 - 00:10:54:28

Jeff Krakoff: That's awesome. So before I let you go, is there any other additional information you'd like to share about this great event coming up? 

 00:10:55:02 - 00:11:18:11

Annie Mersing: So I would just again encourage everyone to attend and be a part of it, whether or not you're racing or you're just there to cheer on, come be a part of the energy and just the great feeling that is so, so much felt amongst the whole, uh, everyone there. I just encourage everyone to be a part of it. 

 00:11:18:27 - 00:11:24:12

Jeff Krakoff: That's awesome. So again, that's the Ryan Gloyer Memorial Run on Sunday, November 3rd. 

 00:11:24:18 - 00:11:25:20

Annie Mersing: at 9 a.m.. 

 00:11:25:24 - 00:11:38:27

Jeff Krakoff: Website. For more information you can go to runsignup.Com as well. Um, thanks so much for for all this information, Annie. That was Annie Mersing. Uh, we look forward to having a great event in November. 

 00:11:39:02 - 00:11:39:23

Annie Mersing: Thanks, Jeff. 

 00:11:40:00 - 00:11:41:05

Jeff Krakoff: All right. Take care.