Dr. Nita Unruh
Department of Health, Physical Education and Leisure Studies, 308.865.8626 or unruhnc@unk.edu
The American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina just grew by another $1,600 this week, as the result of the efforts of a group of University of Nebraska at Kearney students this past weekend.
Forty students from the Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Leisure Studies, the majority of them students in a sport marketing class taught by Dr. Nita Unruh, collected donations Friday, Sept. 9, at the women’s volleyball game, and again on Saturday, during the Chancellor’s Picnic and the UNK football game that followed.
“Students involved were sports administration majors, athletic training majors as well as recreation and tourism majors,” Dr. Unruh said.
“The students’ efforts were coordinated by Andy Hutchison, president of the Athletic Training Majors Club,” she added. Hutchison is from Omaha.
Dr. Unruh said that the project began as a collaboration between herself and her husband Dr. Scott Unruh, also a UNK associate professor of health, physical education and recreation.
“He asked me if I could get some student help, and he would ask some of the athletic training students,” she said. “I presented the idea to my sports marketing class, and they were eager to participate.
“We have been talking about how sports marketing isn’t always raising awareness or selling your program, but sometimes it is doing a public service like collecting monies for the hurricane victims.
“I am very proud of their efforts,” she said. “With only a one-day lead time, they were organized, split the duties between the events, and did a fantastic job! Both Dr. Unruh and I were very pleased that they were able to raise $1,600!”
