Harrison High School Vice Principal and former Jersey City Councilman Steve Lipski is a runner. In fact, he’s run several marathons, including New York City, Rome and Berlin. So it should come as no surprise that when he was brainstorming a solid, pandemic-era fundraiser with the Harrison High School Parent Teacher Student Organization, that they ultimately decided on a 5K scholarship run or walk.
Lipski says every single dime raised for the May 16 event, the HHS PTSO’s Finishing Strong 5K — which steps off at 9 a.m. for runners and 9:30 a.m. for walkers from West Hudson Park at Dukes Street and Davis Avenue, and that ends at Red Bull Arena — will go to support graduating students heading to colleges and universities.
“Everything helps our students — 100% of the money raised,” Lipski said. “…We’re a district that has 87% of its students on free or reduced lunches, yet we’ve already seen college acceptances to schools such as Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore), NJIT, Rutgers, Seton Hall University.”
As of now, Lipski says there are about 100 people signed up to participate. But he hopes for more. And, you don’t have to be a professional runner to take part. In fact, you don’t even have to run at all.
“People can walk along with their strollers or dogs on leashes,” he said. “You do not have to be a pro runner to take part in the walk/run.”
The cost to register is $21. Every penny will be used for scholarships. All participants receive a dry-fit custom shirt, a run bib, timed results and more.
To register, visit www.runsignup.com/Race/NJ/Harrison?HarrisonHighSchoolsPTSOsFinishingStrong5KScholarshipRunWalk. Or, call Harrison Councilwoman Ellen Mendoza at (973) 885-8371 or ellen_mndz@yahoo.com or Lipski at (973) 482-5050 or steve.lipski@staff.harrisonschools.org.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.