Sisters on the Runway Hosts Annual Domestic Violence Awareness Walk

Story posted October 28, 2019 in CommRadio, News by DJ Morrissey

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Sisters on the Runway PSU held its annual walk, Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, to raise awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault on campus this past Wednesday.

The walk started at the HUB, followed by a group picture in front of Old Main. Participants then made their way down Beaver Avenue to Garner Street and back around to the HUB.

SOTR’s leading members are clear about their mission to make Centre County a safer place for women.

The organization’s vice president Isabelle Ferber and president Shaye Smartt emphasized the significant personal impact that domestic violence and sexual assault have on young women.

Ferber even mentioned that part of why she got involved is because she has had close friends that have been victims.

The visual impact of the walk is one of its most essential aspects according to Ferber.

“All black because it makes more of a statement,” Ferber said. “We always wear all black with purple accents because purple is the Domestic Violence Awareness Month’s ribbon.”

Participants of the walk also carried black signs, which each showed different statistics about domestic violence and sexual assault.

Smartt believes seeing these statistics can have a serious impact on people’s outlook towards the issues at hand.

“Listening to some real statistics can baffle people because they don’t understand the actual degree to which the problem is,” Smartt said.

SOTR will send all money raised to CentreSafe, which provides crisis services, education and advocacy for local women.

 

DJ Morrissey is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email djmorrissey21@gmail.com.