WITH the recent news in one of the daily newspapers that over 800 The University of the West Indies students were being deregistered due to lack of funds to pay for their tuition, one social media marketer for the upcoming CB Group UWI 5K — Its Pixel Perfect — reported that the site lit up with over a 1,000 re-tweets and likes, following a tweet by youth marketer Kristofferson Nunes’ of UCA, highlighting the plight of the students in the recent news report.

Its Pixel Perfect then threw out the challenge to students to sign-up for the event, scheduled for tomorrow and titled their campaign as “Running for Dreams” and stated that, with every 300 students who sign-up for the 5K, one student who has been deregistered will receive a scholarship.

According to Its Pixel Perfect spokesperson Nicolette Peterkin, this created a lot of interest with comments tweeted such as “good move”, “we’ll definitely support” and other positive messages. The organisers of the event have, therefore, extended the deadline for registration, to accommodate the donations and pledges from persons including the UWI and Mona School of Business and Marketing (MSBM) Alumnus.

In order to make a significant impact for this year’s seventh anniversary, the UWI 5K cohort found it necessary to place the cause at the centre of the event. The group and all its stakeholders understand the gravity of the situation and empathise with the students affected by this phenomenon. They believe this initiative is the best step towards helping the students affected.

To date the seven-year-old event has raised funds and provided scholarships for over 200 students. Chair of the UWI 5K event, Elizabeth Buchanan Hind, said they were looking for 7,000 supporters of the event tomorrow, so that they can extend their hand even further to students in need.

She further challenged influencers in the society such as radio personality and UWI graduate Miss Khadene “Kitty” Hylton to encourage individuals to sign-up on her team, with the hope that it will have a ripple effect to increase participation.