By Nick Hagewood
The outpouring of support in the memory of Mikayla Ferer is amazing! It is inspirational to see an influence one has on so many around her.
A community is rallying in her honor, and my wish is for that to continue in both the short term, and in the years to come.
Team Mik is about to grow, but I need your assistance in doing so. There is aid from so many accessing the GoFundMe Page for the Mikayla Ferer Memorial Scholarship to live on in her legacy.
There are also a couple of dozen individuals running/volunteering at the Gazelle Girl Race in Grand Rapids on April 23 – Lea Ferer, Rachel Pytel, Sarah McCallum, Kirby Caitlin, Nick Dahl, just to name a few; a race that embodies so much of what Mik stood for. Still others wanting involvement can purchase team shirts, designed by Haley Ferer.
With all of the above mentioned, I would like to expand even further. With the cooperation of Mrs. Amy Gall Quayle, Mr. John Drallos, Mr. Ryan Eisele, Mr. Chris Brosky, Mrs. Amy Voyles Allen, and Mr. Kevin Emmons, we have decided to initiate Mikayla’s Miles!
The first of many, Mikayla’s Miles is an annual road run/relay that will celebrate and pay tribute to a girl that changed so many lives.
This celebration will begin at Clarkston High School on Saturday, April 22 (Earth Day), and advance well into the evening, the night, and into the next morning. The relay will progress through the sidewalks, streets, country roads, and towns of this great state; capturing the attention of all who participate and witness this miraculous 125 mile-journey, until the destination of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the Gazelle Girl Run Start Line is reached at 8 a.m. the following morning!
We need your help! We need volunteers to run for this event. We need “Ladies and Gentlemen, moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas, uncles and aunts, and to all students!” (sorry, I couldn’t help but give Dale Ryan a shameless plug . . .).
In all seriousness, this is open to both males and females, current and former students, family, friends, kids, and to anybody else that has been touched by Mik’s gifts to this world.
Anybody that is interested in running 1 mile, or 2, or 3, or 5, or whatever. We need you! Can’t run, but still want to offer a hand? We could also use vehicle support throughout the 125-mile run from the east to the west side of the state!
It will be easy to get interested parties running in the streets of Clarkston, and Fenton, and Linden, and everywhere in between during that beautiful Saturday in April. But what about in Byron, and Bancroft, and Westphalia, and Saranac, and every rural area in Michigan along the way?
What about when it’s night time in the middle of nowhere (runners with headlamps and a car traveling behind for safety)? What about early Sunday morning through Lowell and Ada, before the “torch” makes its way to Grand Rapids, to be passed off to the rest of Team Mik? Can I get people for any and all of those spots as well?
The impact of Mikayla is just touching the surface. Her legacy is far more reaching than I can ever imagine. It’s time to see exactly how far it can go. Mikayla’s Miles needs at least 100ish runners (no less than 2 individuals running at a time, with no limit on how many can run at the same time.), and we need them fairly quickly.
Can you help make this vision a reality? Please spread the word, and if interested to assist, please contact me at hagewoodnd@gmail.com, or message me so I can give you further details.
Posted on Facebook, #LiveLikeMik, by Nick Hagewood, Clarkston math teacher