MS Walk Supports Programs and Research

Hundreds of walkers turned out for the 13th annual MS Walk in Simsbury on April 21 hosted by Westminster School to raise funds to support life-changing programs and cutting-edge research.
 

Shortly after sunrise, students and faculty began marking the route, setting up rest stops, coordinating parking and staffing registration tables. By 8 a.m., walkers began arriving at the Jackson Hockey Rink to register to walk with friends, family members and teams.
 

The event officially kicked off at 9 a.m. with welcoming remarks by Headmaster William Philip who called for a moment of silence to honor the victims of the Boston tragedy earlier in the week. Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman and State Representative John Hampton then spoke to the walkers. “We have a great partnership with Westminster School,” said Glassman. “Thank you for your efforts against MS. We are proud to stand with you this morning.” Hampton added, “We are proud to be here and support you as we seek to eradicate this disease.” Madison Caan ’13 then sang the national anthem, and Cullen Matt ’13 talked about the walk and its sponsors. After a warm-up with fitness instructor Mary Root, the ribbon was cut and everyone began the walk into Simsbury and back.
 

Ben Kleinschmidt ’14 was in charge of all of the rest stops around campus and Simsbury, as well as the crosswalk guards. He had been involved in planning the walk with the MS Walk Committee. He made sure the rest stops were stocked and running smoothly. Throughout the day, he and Pierce Cote ’14 also made sure everyone knew what to do regarding the race and rode in a van that stopped to pick up tired walkers. They finished around 11:30 a.m., after disassembling all of the rest stops and bringing back the volunteers from around the loop. “I thought this was a great leadership and community service opportunity,” said Ben. “It was good to help out a great cause. It was also good practice for the operations field, as my job was essentially an operations manager for the walk.”
 

Ellie Deveaux ’14, who has volunteered with the walk for the past three years and was responsible for volunteer registration, had met with faculty and student volunteers a week before the walk to teach them how to register people and how to switch the registration tables over to lunch tables while the walk was taking place. Starting in January, she had also participated in MS committee meetings every few weeks. “Every year has been a really amazing experience, from learning how to collect money from my classmates, to organizing students at 7 in the morning, to making the traditional balloon arc,” she said. “I look forward to helping run the walk again next year!”
 

Ray and Laurie Ellsworth of Burlington said they selected the walk in Simsbury because it is so well organized. Laurie, who has MS, said, “If it wasn’t for research and drugs, I don’t think I would be walking.”
 

Westminster alumna Terry Bridges, a member of the Class of 1983, was also one of the walkers. Diagnosed with MS in December 2004, she decided to get involved with the MS Society in 2005 by starting her own MS Walk team called Still S’Myelin. She and her children have walked every year since, and a few years ago, she joined the MS Walk Committee in Simsbury. “Because of the organization and hard work of the teachers and students at the school, the Simsbury site works like a well-oiled machine, but I try to help out where I can whether it be fund raising, getting sponsors or hanging up posters,” she said. “Walking at the Simsbury site is especially nice for me since I lived at Westminster until I was 24 years old. It is like coming home!”
 

“It is amazing to see how many people come out to support not only the MS Society and the work they do, but also all those people who have some connection to MS,” she added. “The MS Walk is so important to those of us living with this disease as it helps to fund research to find treatments and eventually a cure for MS. The money raised at these walks also helps locally by providing people in Connecticut with access to information about resources, programs and services available to those people affected and their caregivers.”
 

“This walk is important to me for reasons other than for the many opportunities that the funds raised give to people affected by MS,” she said. “It is easy to get down sometimes when you have a challenge like MS in your life, and this walk reminds me that I really am doing O.K. I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I cross the finish line. It is important for me to show my kids that I am doing well, and it is important for me to prove to myself that I can complete the walk. This September, I will be participating for the third time in the MS Challenge Walk on Cape Cod. That is a 50-mile walk spread over three days. The walk in Simsbury gets me pumped up for the Challenge Walk!”
 

According to faculty member Jill Loveland, who coordinates the walk each year, Westminster students, faculty and staff donated approximately $5,000 to the walk.