by Ashley Schaerfl

Sherri Mahoney, a junior at Colorado State University-Pueblo, was 42 when her son Tyler Mahoney committed suicide on Sep. 30, 2012.  After his death, Mahoney wrote a play about her son’s suicide and how she got through the tragedy that will be held  at CSU-Pueblo Saturday April 29 at 2 p.m.

“He was a curious, vibrant, full of energy and brought me so much happiness,” Mahoney said. “He was the only boy I’ve ever loved at first sight.”

Tyler like many high school students had dreams after for after graduation from Pueblo’s Central High School. “He wanted to go into the Marines,” his mother said. “In fact they called me in January (2013) to talk to him and I had to tell them he passed away.”

Sherri Mahoney took her experience and turned it into an informational play in hopes of changing the taboo on addressing suicide.

“I had been wanting to do something like this since my second year at PCC (Pueblo Community College),” Mahoney said.

Dr. Karen Yescavage, a professor at CSU-Pueblo, encourage Mahoney to write the play to help the community become aware of the rise in suicides. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States and has increased since 1999.

According to the Pueblo Chieftain 42 days into the year and Pueblo had 3 teen suicides. This is an increase for Pueblo which for the 2015 and 2016 only 34 were recorded.  A Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, conducted by the CDHE every two years, noted 21 percent of Pueblo County high school students considered attempting suicide while which is 3 percent higher that the national average. “As of January we had eight suicides here in Pueblo not counting the those who survived suicide,” Mahoney said.

The play written by Mahoney is meant to help change the way people talk about suicide and how to prevent more suicides in the community and across the U.S.

“I want to raise awareness; I want to take the taboo out of suicide,” she said. “It’s such a hard thing to talk about because it affects your family; it affects your friends. It’s the domino effect.”

The play is also being directed by Joshua Custodio, a National Exchange Student from Puerto Rico. “Basically I am helping develop Sherri’s vision into a theatrical reality,” Custodio said.

Custodio and Mahoney are two psychology students taking part in the Positive Psych Courses, Theatre 4 Change. “We call it Theatre 4 Change, where we mentored and acted out situations facing the community with High School Students,” Custodio said. “My hope is The Abyss will open the discussion about suicide to the public.”

The play will take place in the Psychology Building, room 205, at 2 p.m. on Saturday. It is open to the public and is free to all who would like to attend.

Coach Wristen leading the team in a previous game from the 2016 season.
(Photo by Jason Prescott)

by Thomas Thortvedt

Pack football concluded the spring season by splitting and drafting teams in the annual red versus white squad in the spring game, Friday, April 21, at the Neta and Eddie DeRose Thunderbowl.

The event started off at 5:30 p.m. with the Pack welcoming kids of all ages to come stretch with the team before kicking off the game between the Red and White team at 6 p.m. Before taking the field the team had the opportunity to meet Pack football alumni.

The two teams were put together by a draft that took place Thursday morning. Darius Williams, junior cornerback, said that having a draft take place makes the game much more competitive.

“Having a draft to separate teams makes the teams that much more hungry to win,” Williams said. “We’re all one team but the draft definitely brings out more competition.”

The game between the White and Red squad was close all throughout. The White squad was able to head into the final period with a 10-7 lead after a field goal by sophomore, Nathan Taylor.

As the fourth quarter loomed, second and third string players were able to close out the game and gather reps.

The game came down to the final drive where the Red squad had the ball placed on their 20 yard line. Redshirt freshman quarterback, Cody Braesch, drove the Red squad down the field and with only seconds remaining, threw a touchdown to freshman tight end, Brian Nichols.

The final score of the contest was 14-10 and both teams came together as a collective at the 50 yard line to hear the final spring ball speech given by head coach John Wristen.

After players were set free to go change in the locker room, Coach Wristen said he can’t wait to have everyone coming back healthy this upcoming fall. “Spring is tough on our guys,” he said. “We had many players injured throughout spring ball and to have our guys come back healthy in the fall gives us a lot of optimism,” Wristen said.

After concluding the spring ball season, the Pack now await the start of the fall season where they’ll take on Colorado Mines at the Thunderbowl, August 31 to start the 2017 campaign.

CSU-Pueblo president, Lesley Di Mare will retire this coming June.
(photo taken from www.csupueblo.edu/presidents-office/ )

by Chianna Schoenthaler

As president Lesley Di Mare looks back on the past six years, she wished she could have spent more time getting feedback through climate survey assessments. However, she established the first renewable merit based scholarship program.

She is originally from upstate New York from a town called Utica. She obtained a BA in theater arts, a MA in speech and communication with an emphasis in rhetoric and persuasion, a teaching credential from California and a Ph.D. in speech communication with an emphasis in rhetoric and persuasion.

“I love CSU-Pueblo,” said Di Mare. She found CSU-Pueblo to be a well-rounded comprehensive university that allows options for students. Di Mare believes CSU-Pueblo is the flagship for the southern Colorado region, where many great things can come from.  

She has found many students at the university are highly motivated and driven. The students to her are what fuel the campus and create environment for all the events.

The marching band serenades her every fall outside her office window in the administration building and she proceeds to go down there to sing the songs with them. At the football games she said she is always on the sidelines and goes over to the marching band to sing songs with them as well.

When she was younger, she always came out to Colorado Springs to visit her Aunt and Uncle. During her visits, her uncle would talk about how amazing the university is in Pueblo.

Before becoming president at CSU-Pueblo, she worked for Nevada State College and received a phone call about being nominated for the president position here. Her uncle sadly passed away before he was able to see her become president of the university in Pueblo.

With being in a high leadership role, Di Mare has faced different situations. She gave an example of when her and her husband first moved here. When they would go out before the person could introduce her as president they would be shaking her husband’s hand. For this situation she said you have to not default to the norms of  society.

“You can’t give up what makes you, you including the part of being female,” said Di Mare.

Her inspiration comes from many people around her especially working females. Her best friend was one of the first people she hired at Arizona State College, she is a mother of two children with one that has special needs. Di Mare says she does not know how she does it all but it is inspiring to her.

She said that self-reflection is highly important in life. You have to understand that people won’t always agree with you, things will be said about you and that is when you have to reflect on it to find ways to strengthen yourself to stay strong.

Di Mare used six words to define the way in which she would describe her leadership style including fair, realistic, understanding, risk taking, collaborative and decision making.

She said someone once said Leslie knows what she doesn’t know. Meaning that by surrounding yourself with others is how you learn and you can’t be intimidate by what you don’t know. An example she gave was about the legislative process, while she was going for the ICR designation for the university. She knew it was important to know how the process worked as a whole.

For current CSU-Pueblo students, she said be sure to talk to your faculty advisor, have a mentor, join clubs and be around people. Everyone has moments where they hit a wall and feel blocked.

When she was writing her dissertation for her PhD. At the time she was teaching nine classes at California State College- Los Angeles and had eight months to put it together. She thought she couldn’t write another word, so she would begin to start reading and thinking, and then she would find her inspiration to write again.

For future CSU-Pueblo students, Di Mare said the best things you can do is get connected before you come, join clubs, have a group of people you can go to and it can be hard but do your best to meet people.

“CSU-Pueblo does feel like a family, it has been the best part of my life. The students breathe life into you,” said Di Mare.

by Wade Walker

Tundra: Spirit of the Pack, the hero-sized statue (110 percent of her actual size) will be placed in an area between the new Occhiato University Center and the Masari arena. A dedication will take place on May 1 at 11 a.m., on Tundra’s 11th birthday. Speakers will include President Lesley DiMare, Associated Students’ Government President Antonio Huerta, Coach Monica Potter and several students. The reception will be held on the Masari patio, weather permitting. This event is open to the public.

Tundra will be immortalized in bronze by artist Brenda Daniher of La Junta. She was tasked by the President of the Alumni board of directors, Carol Rickman. The two have paired up before to bring the Thunder Wolf statue to the CSU-Pueblo campus.

Daniher has been sculpting since the age of eight. She began with clay, later progressing to bronze. She has completed over 40 life-sized statues, the largest being a 14-foot by 10-foot bronze Pony Express at the Ft. Sedgwick Museum in Julesburg, Colorado.

“I see the 3-D world differently than most people” she says.

Her process starts with measurements and photos to capture Tundra’s likeness. A frame is made, then latex molds are used to create an outer shell. The outer shell is removed and wax is laid into the mold, then melted out in the foundry. Molten bronze is poured into the hollow shells in a process known as the ancient lost wax process. Welding is the last step which she says is an extremely time-consuming process.

Tundra is not actually a wolf, she is a mix breed that includes husky, but she looks the part and most people are unaware of the distinction. She was rescued by Carol and Mark Rickman. She is an ambassador for the school but she also serves to bridge a wider array of humanitarian efforts. Tundra accompanies Carol to many of her lectures as a docent. It has made Tundra wildly popular beyond just the circle of CSU-Pueblo.

Tundra’s Facebook page “probably has more followers than the alumni page” says Tracy Samora, Director of Alumni relations.

“We just absolutely love all the stuff we get to do with Tundra, being an alum, it is really fun to get back to the university and do all the different things we do with her and we have met so many wonderful people because of her.” says Carol, who received the President’s Medallion for Distinguished Service last year from CSU-Pueblo for her contributions to the university.

The Rickman’s bring Tundra to every home game and at least one road event for all of CSU-Pueblo’s 22 athletic teams every year. They cover all the cost themselves. Their dedication is unwavering and their generosity is heartwarming.

“They do it out of the kindness of their heart and all it cost in return is a McDouble for Tundra” Samora says of the Rickmans.

CSU-Pueblo’s ThunderWolves Football will have a spring game Friday, April 21.
(photo by CSU-Pueblo Today AV staff)

by Thomas Thortvedt

Colorado State University-Pueblo’s football spring training has the Pack excited for their upcoming spring game, April 21, 2017.

Since returning from winter break, the pack have been training each day of the week. Each day has also consisted of 6:30 a.m. practices.

Strength and conditioning coach for all athletics at CSU-Pueblo, Allen Hedrick, said that the players have been working hard after a season where they failed to make the postseason. “These boys have been pushed to their limits,” he said. “After a season that didn’t end well, it’s important we do things we didn’t do last year,” Hedrick said.

Hedrick also said he hopes the spring game is a reflection of how hard the players have worked this spring. “Me as a strength and conditioning coach, nothing makes me feel more proud than seeing the boys put their hard work in the weight room then see it translate on the field,” he said.

At the beginning of spring training, players would lift on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and run Tuesdays and Thursdays. After the phase was complete the pack started their 1-of-13 practices as a team.

Junior outside linebacker, Noor Shongolo, said that the spring training has been a hard process after a disappointing season last year. “Spring has always been tough since I’ve been here,” he said. But this year we know as a team we have to take it to the next level,” Shongolo said.

Shongolo also went on to say the upcoming spring game will be a good indicator on what direction the team is heading going into the fall season. “The spring game is always a great way to see where we’re at as a team and what needs to be improved coming into the fall,” Shongolo said.

The Pack football team host its spring game April 21 beginning at 6 p.m. at the Neta and Eddie DeRose Thunderbowl.

Zach Hoffman scoring Pack’s first run of the April 7 game against Adams State.
(Photo by Zachary Allen)

by Ashley Schaerfl

The men’s CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves baseball team went head to head with the Highlands University Cowboys and the Adam’s State Grizzlies, tying one series and winning the other.

They started the series out strong with a win Friday, ending 3-0 at Rawlings Field.

The game was 0-0 up until the 7 inning when Zach Hoffman,pitcher, singled to third base, setting the tone for the inning.

With Hoffman, Chris Devery, infielder, and Derron Davis,utility infielder,on base, David Gunther, infielder, hit a single to left field. This allowed Hoffman and Devery to come in scoring the first points of the game.

Thanks to an error on Adam State, Brandon Castaneda, infielder, scored the final run of the game for the ThunderWolves.

“We had a real pitchers duel,” Spencer Dainels, an outfielder for the ThunderWolves, said. “Kyle Lazcano had a dominating performance.”

On Sunday the ThunderWolves took on Adam’s State again, making history for coach Stan Sanchez, with his 800 win with the team.

“It’s a great honor to be a part of such a huge game,”Dainels said. “To get 800 wins is something very special, and it’s a testament to the work that Coach Sanchez and the assistants have put in over the years.”

The game started with the ThunderWolves giving Adam’s State one run in the first inning and gaining one run thanks to David Gunther bring in Zach Hoffman.

In the third inning Adam’s State took the lead getting bring in three runs, while the ThunderWolves scored one, closing the ending 2-4.

By the seventh inning Adam’s State was up by two. Castaneda turned the game around but hitting a double to start off the bottom of the seventh. Castaneda was followed by  Gilbert Sauceda hitting a single, allowing Castaneda to advance to third.

Sauceda stole second followed by Jason Lighthall being walked by Adam’s State, with Jake Boyd pinch running for Lighthall.

When Derron Davis came to the plate he singled to left field, bring in Castaneda as well as advancing Sauceda to third and Boyd to second.

Sauceda and Boyd were the runs that put the ThunderWolves ahead thanks to hit from  Ambrose Romero.

The ThunderWolves were able get their bearings and finish the seventh inning ahead, 6-5.

The top of the eighth, the ThunderWolves held Adam’s State with 3 up, 3 down.

The bottom of the eighth started with Gunther hitting a grounder to second and being thrown out at first, followed by both Castaneda and Sauceda being walk.

With two on base Sonny Arellano hit a double to right center, bring home Castaneda and advancing Sauceda to third. Arellano was followed by Davis who tripled to right center, bring in Sauceda and Arellano.  The inning continued with Devery getting on second and bring in Davis with a double to second thanks to an error on Adam’s State. The final run of the game was Justin Wilman, pinch runner for Devery, after Romero hit a single to center.

Adam’s State tried to catch back up at the top of the ninth but failed, ending the game 11-5 and ending the series 2-0.

In between games with Adam’s State, the Thunderwolves also took on the Highlands University Cowboys as part of their weekend series. The series against Highlands ended in a tie Sunday before finish with Adam’s State.

Game one, which took place this past Saturday, started with Highlands gaining the first run of the game followed by the ThunderWolves taking the lead, 2-1.

The ThunderWolves were able to hold the Cowboys until the third, allowing them to score and tie the game, 2-2.

The top of the fourth, the Cowboys took the lead by three, closing the inning 2-5.The Thunderwolves were able to hold the Cowboys at the top of the fifth.

Morgan Smith was able to score a run for the ThunderWolves in the third thanks to hit from Lighthall.

At the top of the eighth the Cowboys scored another run putting the count 2-6. The ThunderWolves tried to make a comeback in the eighth with Hoffman making it to third base off an error. After the error Davis came to bat, hitting a single and moving Hoffman to home.

The teams continued on to the ninth, with both teams not scoring, ending the game 3-6 and giving the ThunderWolves their first loss of the weekend series.

“We fell just short of defeating Highlands, mostly because we made errors on defense,” Dainels said.

Game two with the Cowboys started with the Thunderwolves walking out strong, holding the Cowboys in the top of the first.

When the ThunderWolves came to the plate, Hoffman delivered a single to center field. Hoffman was followed by Gunther singling to left and allowing Hoffman to advance to third. With two on Castaneda brought in Hoffman for the first run of the game, advancing Gunther and making it to first. Sauceda singled to center bringing in Gunther and giving the ThunderWolves another run. With two on Smith doubled to left field bring in Castaneda. The last run of the inning came from Romero grounding to shortstop and advancing Sauceda to home, closing 5-0.

The Cowboys weren’t able to score until the top if the third, putting the game at 5-1, with the ThunderWolves still in the lead.

The reverse happened in the fourth with the Thunderwolves holding the Cowboys and Hoffman scoring one finishing the inning.

In the fifth, the game began to pick up again with the Cowboys trying to catch the ThunderWolves 6. The Cowboys were able to gain 5 runs, before the ThunderWolves could get their third out.

With the game tied, The top of the sixth started with the Cowboys scoring two runs and gain the lead. The Cowboys were able to hold their small lead, but not for long

In the bottom of the seventh, Romero started the inning getting hit by the pitcher and needing Byod to take over on the base. Spencer Daniels  came up with a bunt, singling to second and advancing Byod. Hoffman then came up and creamed a single to left, advancing Daniels to third and pushing Byod home. Hoffman was followed by Gunther who grounded out to shortstop and was able to get an RBI, bringing Daniels home and advancing Hoffman to third.

The ending continued to stay heated as Castaneda hit a triple to right center, bringing Hoffman in for another run. Sauceda proceed to carry on the ending with a single to right and bring in Castaneda. The inning ended 10-8.

When the Cowboys came up to bat at the top of the eighth, the ThunderWolves were able to hold them, moving the inning in to the bottom half.

Tanner Fuhrman was walked during the bottom of the eighth, allowing him to advance, thanks to Gunther, and score the last run of the game.

The Cowboys had one last chance to catch the ThunderWolves in the ninth but were held, ending the game 11-8 and giving the ThunderWolves another win for the series.

The ThunderWolves head to Lakewood, Colorado this next weekend to face off with the Colorado Christians.

Construction of Thunder Village began not very long ago and a recent windstorm caused damages that set the project back at least 5 weeks. It is still set to be completed overall on time.
(photo by CSU-Pueblo Today AV staff)

by Alexandra Purcell

Construction on Colorado State University-Pueblo’s new Student Village shopping center has experienced a major setback after a windstorm took out a newly-built wall on-site.

The front wall of the shopping center collapsed March 24, 2017, at around 1:30-2 a.m. according to Wes Faris, project manager at Arc Valley Construction. It happened in the midst of a severe windstorm that caused severe damage all across the Pueblo area. No one was injured.

“Where we’re at now is… well, we lost (the wall), we cleaned it up, and now we’re rebuilding it,” Faris said.

Arc Valley Construction projected a five-week setback in the construction process, but Faris said raising the new wall isn’t what’s going to take a long time. “Right now, we’re just waiting on new brick,” he said. “All the material is coming from Summit Brick & Tile (in Pueblo). They make them on order, so they’re making them right now, but that’ll take a while.”

Since the shopping center will be built with three different colors of brick that makes it more difficult for Summit Brick to fill the order, he said.

Despite the setback, though, Arc Valley predicts the project will still be completed by the deadline—before the new school year, that is. “Even though you’re five weeks behind, you’re going to pick up some time along the way,” said Debbie Proctor, project manager at CSU-Pueblo’s Physical Plant.

At the time of the collapse, Arc Valley had constructed all four walls of the complex. “They were fully grouted, so they were solid, and they had rebar going from the foundation all the way up,” he said. All the walls were braced with typical masonry bracing. It should have stood up to a 70 mph wind.”

Unfortunately, this was not the case, as wind speeds were much higher than anticipated. “The wind gauge at the airport blew out at 75 mph, so we don’t have an accurate measurement there,” Faris said. Gauges at the Transportation Technology Center north of Pueblo registered winds close to 100 mph, and Faris said a family friend in Beulah measured speeds of 127 mph.

Pete Larsen, foreman at J L Concrete Inc. in Carlsbad, California, said that engineers calculate the average wind speeds in the area of a build. “If wind gusts of 60 mph are typical of the area, then that’s what they’ll calculate their design to,” he said. However, if a building doesn’t have a roof on it yet, the walls can be more susceptible to wind damage, especially if the speeds are higher than anticipated.

“No matter how well they’re braced, walls aren’t made to stand by themselves,” Larsen said. “Without a roof, they can act like sails.

Faris said large openings on the front wall of the shopping center allowed wind to blow into the building, causing air pressure to shift and ultimately collapsing the wall.

In 27 years of operation, this is the largest setback Faris said Arc Valley Construction has had to deal with. “We’ve never lost a wall before,” he said. “Mother Nature’s still in charge.”

There was a 5.4 percent increase in freshmen enrollment last year, and CSU-Pueblo Admissions staff aims to continue to increase those enrollment numbers.
(Photo by Dustin Cox)

by Thomas Thortvedt

Colorado State University-Pueblo is working to increase the number of incoming freshman and transfers.

Director of admissions at CSU-Pueblo, Tiffany Kingrey, said that the university has plenty of recruiting goals they want to meet. “We’re working to meet the goal of bringing new freshman in that are interested in CSU-Pueblo,” Kingrey said. “But we’re also very committed to bringing in new transfer students as well.” she said.

Kingrey also said that in the past year enrollment has seen increase in diversity with incoming freshman. “I think it’s great to have diversity,” she said. “For us as a university it allows students to possibly learn more about each other and interact with students with different backgrounds,” she said.

Kingrey said that the admissions staff strives to make sure that students understand the coursework that is required to succeed at CSU-Pueblo. Kingrey also said that they don’t want students to be surprised when arriving on campus, so she wants to make sure while recruiting that students have all the information they need.

Being a diverse university, Kingrey said that students come from all over the country, not just Colorado. “We recruit students from Colorado, however, we do have an increasing number of students from other states,” she said. “Our largest number of nonresident students come from California and Texas.” Kingrey said.

CSU-Pueblo also draws interest in students from Arizona, Hawaii, Illinois, New Mexico and Washington. Kingrey said overall she wants students who attend CSU-Pueblo to feel at home. “We don’t want students to feel homesick when they arrive, we wants students who ultimately want to graduate from CSU-Pueblo.” she said.

Last fall, CSU-Pueblo had 835 freshman enrolled and that was an increase of 5.4 percent from the prior year. Kingrey said that an effective marketing campaign is to thank. “Financial aid improvements as well as an effective marketing campaign have helped our University attract students from all over.” Kingrey said.

CSU-Pueblo Students can now check out State Park passes and visit for free.
(photo taken from CSU-Pueblo Library Facebook page)

by Chianna Schoenthaler

With Summer right around the corner students can pick up state park passes and backpacks provided by Colorado State and Colorado Parks and Wildlife in the library.
The backpacks were distributed throughout the state to public libraries and other various state funded universities last fall.
These passes allow students to check out various state parks throughout Colorado including Cheyenne Mountain State Park, St. Vrain State Park, Lake Pueblo State Park, Golden Gate Canyon State Park, Sylvan Lake State Park and other parks throughout the state.
Jason Falsetto, a sophomore civil engineering technology major, said, “I like the park passes because it promotes going to local state parks, and it gives students the opportunity to explore what we have in our backyard.”
When students check out the park passes from the circulation desk at the library with their student ID, they will receive a backpack. Within the backpack, the student will find binoculars, a wildlife viewing guide, a tree and wildflower guide, other various maps, granola bars and a park pass that is good for everyone in the vehicle.   
The backpack with the pass is allowed to be checked out for seven days and can be renewed once for another seven days before it has to be returned.
Students are able to check out the pass on multiple occasions throughout the semester instead of just once a semester.
Betsy Dekens, a librarian specialist at CSU-Pueblo, said, “I hope that students that normally would not check out the parks because they think it’s too expensive they will use this to check them out.”
Dekens also encourages students to check out other books the library has on trails and hiking areas throughout the state.

Brandon Wilson, one of the students behind putting the event together, holds a sign to be carried at the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes sexual assault awareness event, Saturday, April 8.
(photo taken by CSU-Pueblo Today AV staff)

by Hannah Plummer

On April 5 two students from CSU-Pueblo hosted a pre-rally for the ‘Walk A Mile In Her Shoes’ event on Saturday, April 8.  Brandon Wilson and Nicole Hulet, both seniors at CSU-Pueblo worked together to make this event possible.

The ‘Walk A Mile In Her Shoes’ event is to bring awareness to rape and sexual assault cases. This event serves as a fundraiser, where men walk a mile in high heeled shoes along the Riverwalk in downtown Pueblo. The pre-rally was hosted, to get people informed and to get people registered for the event.

A stage was set up for a live music performance, and a speech from Hulet.

“I was asked to speak, because I’m a public speaker. Brandon reached out to me and asked if I would speak about my personal experience as a sexual assault survivor.” Hulet spoke of her experience in front of a small crowd. She has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder three separate times as a result of her assault.

Hulet’s speech outlined the reason for the event. “Assault is not just male on female. It is female on female, female on male and male on male.” Hulet said, “It can happen to anyone, and it means a lot that everyone is here to support us.”

The Pueblo Rape Crisis Services also came to support Hulet, and all other victims of sexual assault.

“We provide lots of different services to the community, one being the 24/7 hotline so that anytime anybody needs to talk to somebody, they have that option to do so.” Said the executive director of the Pueblo Rape Crisis Services, Kristi Roque.  

Around the fountain there were tables lined up with glue, paper and markers so that students could make their own signs for the march on Saturday.

This event is important to all those involved in putting this event together.

“Personally, I was a victim of sexual assault, so this event means the world to me. I want people to overcome, and take a stand for something that is much bigger than them.” Wilson said.

People who support the victims and survivors of sexual assault, are important to this group of people. “It’s a choice to be here and that is so valuable to all survivors to know that people are choosing to support them.” Hulet said.

“It is wonderful to see like-minded individuals can come together and take a stand for this.” Wilson said.