The Association of Women Law Students at Mercer University School of Law will host the inaugural Lauren Giddings 5K on Nov. 4 during Mercer's Homecoming weekend. The race will take place at the Ocmulgee National Monument in Macon. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m., and the race will begin at 9 a.m.
The registration fee is $30 if registered by Oct. 20 and $40 after Oct. 20. All race participants will receive a T-shirt. The online registration form can be found at laurengiddings5k.eventbrite.com. The top-three male finishers and top-three female finishers will receive a medal.
All money raised will go to the newly created Lauren Giddings Scholarship. The scholarship will be awarded to a third-year AWLS member for his or her bar exam expenses. The scholarship recipient will be chosen based on service hours with AWLS and a written essay. Currently, the average amount that law school graduates spend on bar exam preparation and living expenses the summer after they graduate is more than $8,000, and federal loans cover less than half of that amount.
The race and scholarship were named in memory of Lauren Giddings, who graduated from Mercer Law in May 2011. She died June 26, 2011, in Macon at the age of 27. Giddings, a native of Laurel, Maryland, earned her bachelor's degree in 2006 from Agnes Scott College, where she studied political science and religious studies and played softball. After graduation, she returned home and worked for the National Center for Public Policy in Washington, D.C., before enrolling in law school in 2008. Giddings served as the president of the Federalist Society, a member of AWLS and a student volunteer with The Habeas Project while at Mercer. She is survived by her parents, Bill and Karen Giddings, and sisters, Sarah Giddings and Kaitlyn Wheeler.
The race and scholarship are organized by AWLS, which is among the largest and most active student organizations at Mercer Law. The organization's mission is to promote the advantages and disadvantages women may encounter in the legal profession, to support the advancement of women in the legal profession and to serve the Macon community.
Sponsors of the race include Adams, Jordan and Herrington; Balch and Bingham; Butler Snow; Chambless, Higdon, Richardson, Katz and Griggs; Childers and McCain; Connie Williford Law Offices; Tom and Carolyn Couch; Crucilla Law Firm; Richard Custard; Deadwyler-Heuman Law Firm; Gautreaux Law; Zane Hasty; James Bates; the Mills family; National Federalist Society; Peggy Johnson Hindsman; David Oedel; Powers Law Firm; Reynolds, Horne and Survant; Rubnitz Thompson Ziblut; and Spivey, Pope, Green and Greer.
For more information, contact AWLS Fall Co-Philanthropy Chair Caitlin Wise at cwise19@lawmail.mercer.edu.
