Keenan Hall will host its second annual Keenan 0.5K race Thursday on North Quad as part of its dorm spirit week.
The race will take place at 4:30 p.m. and will start in front of the Keenan door, continue in front of Zahm House and Cavanaugh Hall, take a left at the stone-henge, continue behind Breen-Phillips Hall, then finally end at North Dining Hall, junior Conor McConville, president of Keenan Hall, said.
All proceeds from the race will benefit the South Bend Center for the Homeless. 
“We have strong bonds with the Boys and Girls Club of South Bend as well as the business house,” senior Tom Walsh, former president of Keenan Hall, said. “But we already did so much for them, we thought we’d reach out to a new charity and kind of see what we can do elsewhere.”
Last year, Keenan 0.5K raised $670. This year, the hall aims to make it an even bigger event.
Walsh said the idea of a 0.5K race stemmed from Keenan’s image on campus and the dorm’s intention to distinguish the event from the Keenan Revue.
“Back in April 2018, there was one weekend where like three or four dorms were doing a race at the same time,” Walsh said. “We realized that our identity on campus is just being like fun, silly and goofy so we wanted to play off all the five Ks and everything going on. We also want to get away from being attached to the Revue. We wanted this to be an independent event, and so we just came [up with] the idea for [the] 0.5K and I think everybody on our spirit week team kind of fell in love with that immediately.”
The race reflects the brotherhood of Keenan Hall, Walsh said, and is meant to make an impact on the first-year Keenan Knights.
“Our goal was to add to the image of Keenan because our main events like Keenan Revue [have] been standing for 44 years, and there’s so much that this brotherhood has to give that we can do more for ourselves, for the community and to show the rest of campus who we are,” Walsh said. “And so together with my vice presidents, we decided that we wanted to create something big in the fall for us besides Disco Roll [and] the Great Pumpkin, to introduce the first years to what it means to be a Knight before the Revue season really kicks in.”
Entrance into the event is $5. For an additional $10, attendees can purchase specially designed Keenan shirts.
JP Lynch, a sophomore Keenan apparel commissioner designed the shirts this year. Lynch explained the meaning behind the K on the back of the shirts.
“It’s collaborating the idea where it’s like the point five K and then emphasize how K is for Keenan as well,” he said. “Our main colors are navy blue and white, and I love the color light blue so I alternated them with swords, put little navy and then some light blue and then sprinkle [the swords] around.”
The front design of the shirt accentuates Keenan’s spirit week this year, Lynch asserted.
“Our spirit week is called Knight Fever, so I basically just made a logo with the words knight and fever,” Lynch said. “But then in the F is like a little thermostat to emphasize fever.”
Keenan Hall to host 0.5K race with proceeds to benefit South Bend homeless center
A group of Keenan Knights grill patties for the 2018 0.5K race. This year’s event will be held Thursday.
