SOUTHWICK – The 1st Annual Scholarship Run in memory of Elizabeth Kulas, is taking place at Southwick Regional High School on May 6. The two-mile race begins with registration at 10 a.m. then the kids run starts at 10:30 a.m. with the rest of the community taking off at 11 a.m.
Kids that are 10 years old and younger can register for free, while it is $20 for students and $25 for adults. You can pre-register by visiting https://www.runreg.com/elizabethjlibbykulasmemorialscholarshiprun. For more information on the event, contact Kristin Tetrault at [email protected]
An eighth grader at Powder Mill School, Elizabeth “Libby” Kulas passed away in 2013 after a two-year battle with cancer. Several of Libby’s friends and classmates are set to graduate as the class of 2017 from Southwick Regional High School, and wanted to create a way to remember Libby.
With the help of Tetrault, who was Libby’s teacher and now a teacher at the high school, a number of Libby’s friends have formed a race committee for the event.
Tetrault developed a strong bond with Libby before she passed, who was her student. An avid runner, Tetrault was a member of Griffin’s Friends, the volunteer organization that provides support for children with cancer. Libby became a part of Griffin’s Friends, and the friendship took off from there.
The 1st Annual Scholarship Run in memory of Elizabeth Kulas is taking place on May 6 at the Southwick Regional High School. (Photo from Micki Bertrand)
Speaking with her students and race committee members, Tetrault learned that everyone who knew Libby wanted to make sure she was still a vital part of this year’s graduating class.
“It was really obvious that we needed to do something to celebrate her life and the impact she’s had,” said Tetrault.
“Libby was such a big part of our school,” said race committee member Eddie Martinez. “It’s just a run to not only keep her memory there, but to bring the community together.”
Fellow classmate and committee member Kaeli Whalley, was thankful that they received support from Libby’s family, school, and the rest of the community for this event.
“Just to be able to put it together in the first place is amazing,” said Whalley.
Along with Martinez and Whalley, seniors Korina Jones and Andrew DeWinkeleer were also dear friends of Libby and part of the race committee.
“It definitely brings back old memories that help us remember her,” said DeWinkeleer.
As Tetreault and the students had to reach out to Libby’s mother, Micki Bertrand, to make sure she was comfortable with this idea, Bertrand couldn’t have been more honored when she heard the request.
“My biggest fear would be that my child would be forgotten,” said Bertrand. “I’ll never have to fear that.”
The scholarship run in memory of Libby also supports the graduating seniors who plan on attending college next fall. All of the money raised at the event will go towards scholarship money for the class of 2017.
With the goal being that multiple students will be able to receive a scholarship from the money raised, the race committee members also wanted to make sure that Libby’s lasting impact became a positive benefit for a hopeful student.
Libby and Tetrault are seen together at the 2012 Boston Marathon. (WNG File Photo)
There will be a top scholarship, one that will have the most money included, in order to symbolize Libby’s devout passion towards the career she always hoped to pursue; education.
“She always wanted to be a teacher so badly,” said Bertrand. “I said to her, “What makes you think you’re not a teacher now?””
“We really want to dedicate that to her because we know that she would be striving towards education as much as she could,” said Jones.
Bertrand pointed out endless ways her daughter was able to teach her about life, but perhaps the most glowing was Libby’s determination that was never going to be broken.
After getting out of the hospital in January of 2013, doctors told Libby and her family that she had about four to six weeks to live. But, with Libby’s fourteenth birthday on February 22, that just quite simply wasn’t going to fly with Libby.
Bertrand and the rest of her family watched Libby blow out the candles that marked her fourteenth birthday, but Libby wasn’t close to finished. Just shortly after, Libby was able to hold her cousin’s baby; something Bertrand said she was overly excited for.
With a timetable of four to six weeks far into the dust, Libby overcame great odds, but more importantly she was able to celebrate her sister’s eighteenth birthday on March 7.
Fighting every day to celebrate yet another event with the ones she loved, Libby passed away on March 17, 2013.
While Bertrand is certain that dealing with the loss of a child will never go away, she can see the determination that Libby had, on all of her friends. The race committee members are dedicating a page in their yearbook just to Libby.
As Libby’s friends and classmates walk the stage on graduation day to receive their diploma, Bertrand will mirror her daughter’s remarkable determination to have her spot in the front row of the ceremony.
Bertrand sees a great part of Libby from her classmates, as they have Libby’s memory very much close to them.
“They’re carrying her with them everywhere they go.”
