HKUST Business School students raised over HK$57,000 from a charity run on campus on 18 April to support the Hong Kong Red Cross Japan Earthquake 2011 relief work. The fundraising event was one of the initiatives of the HKUST Service Learning Day held on 14-18 April. It also marked the finale of a series of competitive social activities organized for the year-round Business Cohort Cup Championship.
Dubbed the "Turkey Run", the 1.5 km race with three checkpoint challenges attracted business undergraduates from ten Cohort teams to run in colourful turkey costumes of their original creative design. They were joined by a faculty team from the HKUST Business School, led by Dean Leonard Cheng, which also dressed in turkey costumes to participate in the competition. Each team had pledged to raise a minimum of HK$1,000 charity donation.
The run was among the various activities organized under the Business Cohort Community, a new student organisation structure launched in the current academic year to create a student culture that is fun and enjoyable, and to encourage students to live a balanced and meaningful university life.
The NASH Cohort, represented by the color grey, was crowned Cohort Champion of the Year after its members gained top total scores from a wide variety of non-academic events. It also raised the highest amount of donation among all Cohorts in the charity run. The OSTROM (pink) and BECKER (blue) Cohorts won the charity race and the best turkey costume award respectively.
Matthew Lee, one of the Cohort Chiefs of NASH, was delighted that his Cohort was named Champion of the Year: "Within our Cohort, we have built up good friendships through a number of fun and meaningful events, including today's charity run which was for such a worthy cause. We've got a stronger sense of belonging and that has helped to enrich our university life."
Under the Business Cohort Community launched in September 2010, Business School freshmen are organized into ten Cohorts, each named after a Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences and is represented by a specific color. Senior students serve as Cohort Chiefs as peer mentors for freshmen. Through the year, Cohort members worked closely to compete in various games with other Cohorts in the hope of becoming a Cohort Cup Champion at the end of the school year.
