The Tabernacle Sun
Seneca High School held its first-ever Color Me Goodness Run, covering runners in a cloud of colors.
“We sort of took it off of the color runs that are being held nationally. It was a spin on the Precious Gems Run we’ve held,” said Erin Lawler, substance awareness coordinator at Seneca. “It’s about making good decisions that can have an impact on others.”
The Precious Gems Memorial remembers four teens killed by a repeat drunken driving offender. The four girls, Megan Blong, Amanda Geiger, Shana Lawler and Angela McGrady, were from the Medford area.
Erin is Shana’s older sister.
“The death of Shana, Angela, Amanda and Megan could have very easily been prevented. Driving under the influence is not an accident. The actions of consuming alcohol willingly proceeded by turning the key to make the motor of your car start and then hitting the accelerator, all while under the influence, is not accidental. The woman who drove at 65 miles an hour into the girls’ car, making no effort to break all before noon on April 6 (1999), did so willingly,” Lawler said. “I walk the hallways of Seneca each day hoping that just maybe I can prevent the next Melissa Marvin from making a decision that claimed someone’s sister, daughter, best friend, because the four crosses on the main bypass of Kill Devil Hills do not stand alone.
“There are thousands of crosses that are erected every year because someone didn’t think, someone didn’t step in and say something, take the keys. Someone’s somebody is represented with each cross and that isn’t fair. That’s why we created the Precious Gems Memorial because we refuse to let their loss be in vain.”
In January 2000, the driver, Melissa Marvin, was found guilty in of four counts of second degree murder and one count of assault with a deadly weapon. She was sentenced to a minimum of 60 years in prison.
“For the past 14 years, I, and the other families, have pressed forward and entered new chapters in our lives,” Lawler said. “But there is not a day that I do not think of my sister. Melissa Marvin removed four lives from this earth. The girls, their families had no say.”
The Lenape Regional High School District continues to teach about the dangers of drinking while driving and how the choices people make affect one another.
Though the run is usually about Precious Gems, this year it focused on making decisions.
“The Precious Gems Memorial inspired the event. I needed to take a year off to put a different spin on things and what transpired,” Lawler said, noting that nothing has changed but the name of the event.
Lawler presented three assemblies to the students with alumni and seniors reflecting on the good, bad and in between of making choices from high school to college.
“They learned about choosing friends wisely, things that matter and don’t matter,” Lawler said. “Alumni talked about what they knew and how important it is to learn about decision making.”
Three or four graduates provided the student body with a good representation of kids who go on to four-year schools and two-year schools to provide insight in what to expect, according to Lawler.
“One of the students shared about how his friend base changed and it wasn’t the center of the world,” Lawler said. “Making good decisions can be crippling [for students] from now to the first weeks of college. Not being able to get acclimated and kids getting caught up in the party scene and the stuff that goes on with that.”
Lawler’s intent was to deliver the same information the Precious Gems lesson provided in a lighter manner.
“I always tell the kids we have a blank canvas in life and ask them how they’re going to color it and enhance it,” Lawler said.
Students wore a “blank canvas” to the event, arriving in white shirts and shorts. Volunteers threw a mixture of cornstarch and dried tempera paint onto the runners. Lawler and volunteers mixed 600 pounds of color for the event.
According to Lawler, a third of the school attended the run, the most ever for an event at Seneca.
The money raised will be used for future events at the school.
“We did a lot of research in terms of what’s entailed into a color run, what goes into creating a course,” Lawler said.
The process was time consuming, but when the plans for the run were revealed, students were “extremely excited to be a part of it.”
The run was closed to students, faculty and alumni.
“This is a trial run to see how many participants we would get, and I was pretty impressed,” Lawler said.
The run contributed to the culture of the school, often referred to as a family by faculty and staff.
“It was one further thing that provided another example of why Seneca is Seneca,” Lawler said. “Allowing kids to be part of these projects that are grandiose and doing things that aren’t typical within a high school. It gives them a chance to dream big and do substance-free activities.”
