It was a perfect day for the Army ROTC cadets to raise awareness for ACCESS the morning of Saturday April 23^rd with their annual CASHA 5k.

“It’s on us,” Writt said. Cadet Shannon Writt opened up this public event with those powerful words. Which exactly explained the reason for everyone who attended the CASHA 5k.

The CASHA 5k is a 3-mile run around the Iowa State campus. This 5k is to raise awareness or donations for anyone who has been sexual assaulted, abused, or harassed. CASHA, which stands for cadets against sexual harassment and assault, is a group of student cadets that work towards ending any form of sexual violence on the Iowa State University campus and the Ames community.

This group is very involved with educating the public about what to do in a sexual violence situation. CASHA has presented for the general public as well as fraternities and sororities about what to do in certain situations. One lesson they focus on teaching is the bystander intervention.

David Pauls, a sophomore cadet, went on to explain the bystander intervention and its importance on campus.

“When you’re at a party, what are things you personal can do to change the situation. If you see something going down…you get the victim to safety and stop being a passive bystander,” Pauls said.

Pauls words mean exactly what the message of the day meant. It’s On Us. The Iowa State campus may seem large, but once an act of sexual violence happens, the community seems smaller and will come together to end sexual violence.

Joyce Mercado, a sophomore cadet and member of CASHA also shared her thoughts about the mission of ending sexual violence.

“You see what it does to the person, you see how it affects them and honestly it breaks your heart. Seeing this is just, it’s slightly emotional cause it’s really great that all these people just really support this,” Mercado said.

CASHA and ACCESS worked together to form this day of awareness. ACCESS, Assault Care Center Extending Shelter & Support, consists of advocates that aid any victim of any form of sexual violence. Their mission is “to address the roots and impact of domestic and sexual violence through the services that enhance safety, empower survivors and promote understanding and social justice within our community.”

And after this moving event, the sophomore cadets went to help ACCESS with setting up housing for recent victims.

The Army ROTC will always show their love and support for our community in many different ways. When looking through the crowd of faces after being told why they were running, you could see the emotion of passion and that is the reason for why they hold such events.