By: Maddie Day ~Staff Writer~

Xavier students will be braving the cold in the sixth annual Nearly Naked Mile.

The event, which is hosted by Xavier’s Center for Interfaith Community Engagement (CICE), will take place on Nov. 20.

Students were allowed to preregister for the event on Nov. 17 and 18 in Fenwick Place. Formal registration for the event will begin at 6 p.m. in front of the Gallagher Student Center. The entry fee is $15 per student, which includes a t-shirt and participation in the run itself. The race will begin at 7 p.m., and students are encouraged to “strip down” for a good cause.

The race begins at Bellarmine Circle. Runners race down the residential mall, touch a gate by the intramural fields, come back to pass Husman Hall and finish back at Bellarmine Circle. Prizes will be awarded to both the best-dressed and fastest male and female participants immediately following the race.

According to Rabbi Abie Ingber, director of the CICE, the purpose of the event goes beyond having fun. “It is great fun for a hundred or so students to run the mile course in the bitter cold, but the purpose is life-and-death serious,” Ingber said. “The funds from registration and T-shirt sales helps to provide the medicines which our medical service trip takes down to Guatemala. These life-giving medicines from a fundraising night at Xavier make everyone who runs a winner.”

Stephanie Renny, program assistant at the CICE, says that the Nearly Naked Mile is helpful for the village that students visit on the Guatemala trip. “Through this trip, the students have the unique opportunity of working side-by-side with medical professionals to provide healthcare to a village with few resources,” Renny said. “Our work in this clinic has greatly contributed to development of health education in this region around Lake Atitlán.

In fact, a young man from our village is currently in medical school. Additionally, the clinic has developed a program to train nurses from around the lake to help bring healthcare to surrounding villages as well.” The CICE works to create and strengthen the sense of community among Xavier’s spiritually diverse population.

It works towards a student-centered initiative that encourages Xavier students to explore their own faith while working to better understand other traditions. The CICE also serves the surrounding community in terms of social justice, shared religious teachings and leadership development. Its members work with various ethnic and religious faith groups to empower the interfaith student community.

For more information on the event or the CICE, contact Stephanie Renny, the program assistant, at rennys@xavier.edu.