The Office of Special Events and Projects will host the 9th Annual CommunityFest on Feb.11 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Gold Circle Lake. This year, for the first time, the CommunityFest committee will collaborate with NSU Students for the Prevention, Intervention & Response to Emergencies to host a Power Over Pain walk during the event.
The purpose of the walk is to not only unite the pain community and those who support them, but to generate awareness about chronic pain and the 116 million Americans living with chronic pain.
Renee Glick, director of Research Studies of the U.S. Pain Foundation and Psychology Trainee at the Center for Psychological Studies, said, “Students who participate in the Power of Pain Walk make strides toward raising pain awareness about invisible illnesses with the primary symptom of pain such as: Crohn’s disease, complex regional pain syndrome and fibromyalgia. Together, we can be a force that provides for a brighter future for those living with pain.”
CommunityFest is a free and open to the public event. Other features at the event will include carnival activities and entertainment that help to foster relationships and connections between students, student organizations, faculty, staff and administration, and the external community.
Francis Ann Ortiz, graduate assistant in the Office of Special Events and Projects, said student organizations are encouraged to participate by hosting an activity booth and are reminded that while they can be as creative with their booths as they wish, CommunityFest is a family-friendly event.
“Student participation is instrumental to the success of CommunityFest. Student organizations should consider facilitating an activity booth, not only because of the more tangible rewards [spirit points, fin points, serve hours], but as an opportunity for exposure, as members within and outside of the NSU community will be present,” said Ortiz.
Aaron Hackman, assistant director of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement, said students can earn serve points, which are needed to maintain student organization status, by volunteering to assist the Office of Special Events and Projects in the operation of CommunityFest.
“Student organizations must now earn at least 30 community service hours every academic semester in order to retain recognized student organization status with the Inter Organization Council. These community service hours allow student organizations to access funding to facilitate activities,” said Hackman.
Registration for the walk begins at 8 a.m. and costs $10 for the NSU community, $15 for the public and $5 for children. Participants get a complimentary T-shirt in addition to serve points.
For more information on the Power of Pain Walk and how the funds raised helps those in the pain community, visit powerofpainwalk.com. For more information on how to participate—as a volunteer and/or as a student organization—in the 9th Annual CommunityFest, visit nova.edu/safspecialevents/communityfest/.
