Miami Herald - Sunday, December 3, 1995
Sabrina Walters, Herald Staff Writer

Even before most people were out of bed and on their way to work or school on Friday, close to 40 students and faculty from Florida Memorial College, along with employees from the Economic Opportunity Family Health Center, were jogging and walking down Northwest 42nd Avenue.

It wasn't just for their health. It was for everyone's well-being.

Their cause: AIDS awareness.

As people around the globe and Dade County observed World AIDS Day Friday through prayer vigils and other ceremonies, students at this North Dade Christian college and the staff at the health center commemorated the day with a four-mile walk and run.

They started their course at 6:45 a.m.

"It's something we all need to be concerned about, because it's not going away," said Silvia Trice, a junior at Florida Memorial College.

Trice walked most of the route, but jogged the final one-block stretch. Participants started off at the Omega Activity Center, 15600 NW 42nd Ave., and made their way north on Northwest 42nd Avenue to 183rd Street and back.

"This is the least I can do to show that I care about the AIDS victims," Trice said. "It's my duty."

Organizer Pat Seabrooks, admitting she cheated "just a bit" by slowing her jog to a walk, said that despite efforts to educate the community about AIDS, the word still has not reached many people.

"I wanted the whole campus to come out," said Seabrooks. "The students haven't got the message yet. We need to do more to make them aware."

Still, Seabrooks said she considered the event a success.

"We'll do it again -- until we get every student from each dorm out here," she said.

She said students at colleges across the country remain ignorant about the consequences of unprotected sex, one way in which the HIV virus that causes the disease is contracted.

"They are still very risky, because they continue to feel invulnerable on campuses in general," Seabrooks said. "We still have students coming for frequent pregnancy testing, which shows us they aren't being as cautious as they should be."

Still, many students have absorbed the safe sex message.

Like Darryl Counts, 22, and Scheila Anaxe, 19, who both jogged on Friday.

"People always say we're supposed to do things, but actions speak louder than words," said Counts, president of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Beta Pi Chapter at Florida Memorial.

Anaxe, not a regular jogger, was just about out of breath as she made her way back to the Omega Center. For Anaxe, the benefit of the run was twofold. "AIDS is a good cause, and running is good exercise," Anaxe said.

CUTLINE

SETTING THE PACE: Rom Blanchard, left, and Peter Stevenson, right, lead the AIDS Walk at Florida Memorial College.

CAPTION: PHOTO Rom Blanchard with Peter Stevenson with other participants during the AIDS Walk at Florida Memorial College (a).
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