Local college students ruck for a cause – The Press
ASHWAUBENON – A group of area college students hit the pavement over the holiday week for a 140-mile ruck – from Green Bay to Milwaukee – pushing through rain, heat and blisters to raise awareness about veterans’ suicide.“It’s a challenging seven days, but it’s definitely a good cause,” ruck team leader and St. Norbert College junior Samuel Skiff said. “I think it is huge to raise awareness for veterans’ mental health and suicide prevention. I don’t think many people understand how big of an issue it is, and how many veterans are affected by it. Hopefully, by us rucking out there and having people see us, will help make people aware of that.”
This is Skiff’s second year participating in the “For Them” 140-Mile Ruck.
“I actually did it last year,” Skiff said. “I am a part of the St. Norbert ROTC program. The team leader last year asked me to take over as team leader this year. All of the other guys are all ROTC, so that is how I knew of them. So I, kind of, organized the team that way.”
He handpicked the remaining members – University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (UWGB) sophomore Alex Kaufman, St. Norbert sophomore Andrew Lopez and UWGB junior Nickolas Hanke.
This year, Skiff added a fifth team member, Lydia Myszka, to help with logistics.
Myszka served as media coordinator and support vehicle for the team.
