By Jared Fredericks and Bryce Harrington
Senior Jared Fredricks and English teacher Mike Witt Pose with a “Witts Warriors” cake during class.
The track at Viking Field was home to more than just the Dave Gee Track Invitational on April 18. It was also the site for the first ever Witt’s Warriors Walk for Parkinson’s Awareness and Support.
Inspired by the amazing show of support from the community for the GRACE Foundation’s Race for GRACE, held annually in Grand Island, sophomore Jenna Buttner knew she wanted to do something to support Northwest teacher Mike Witt after he made his diagnosis with Parkinson’s Disease public.
Walkers are led by Mike Witt in the first annual Witt’s Warriors Walk held on the track at Viking Field at Northwest High School.
Parkinson’s Disease is a progressive incurable nervous system disorder that affects movement and muscle control.
The initial idea for Witt’s Warriors was to do the walk and sell tee shirts and goodie bags, but due to the limited timeframe, that didn’t quite work. The group settled on selling wristbands and putting on the walk instead.
While the final number of participants from Witt’s Warriors walk is unclear, the Northwest Student Council raised over $2,000 from a combination of the wristbands, the walk, and free will donations. One former student of Witt bought 500 wristbands himself.
She was happy with the numbers and the turnout for the event, Buettner said.
“Anything that we can do to get people to participate is good enough for us.” Buettner’s favorite moment of the walk came when she looked out and the entire home stretch of the track was completely filled with participants.
Northwest Student Council members sell bands and collect donations by the concessions area on April 18 at Viking Field during the Dave Gee Track and Field Invite.
Student council has not found a specific use for the funds as of now but their hope is to use them to support research being done about Parkinson’s Disease. They have also had the idea of creating a scholarship to help spread awareness about the disease.
Walkers wait for the starting gun to fire to begin the first annual Witt’s Warriors Walk
“I was very honored and humbled that so many people gave their time and resources in order to help draw awareness to a disease that so disproportionately affects Nebraskans,” said Witt. “That level of support emphasizes the strong community that is Northwest. It makes me proud to be a part of the Northwest family.”
Student council is still selling bands for $2. Anyone interested in picking one up to show their support for Witt can contact Buettner or Student Council sponsor Darbie Mazour. Buettner says they plan on continuing Witt’s Warriors in the years to come and are looking forward to being able to advertise and promote it more so they can one day move the event to a bigger venue.
Witts Warriors Bands are sold by the Northwest Student Council for $2.00
Anyone interested in helping out with Witt’s Warriors in any way can contact Jenna Buettner jbuettner21@ginorthwest.org or Darbie Mazour dmazour@ginorthwest.org.
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