The Elder Walk for Others has been an annual tradition for 41 years. The entire west side is flooded with a sea of purple as the students walk 12 miles to raise money in order to make attending Elder more accessible to everyone. Unfortunately due to rain, this year’s Walk was cut much shorter than usual. The students only had to make brief journey to Coronado Avenue and back, which only added up to about four miles.

Not many complaints were heard from the student body after this year’s short venture, but other years have been very different. Many students’ opinion on The Walk itself varies immensely. While some people take the day as a nice change of pace and essentially a day off of school, others find it to be an annoyance and tedious to participate in.

One of the many students who dislike the Walk for Others is Senior, Stephen Cox.

“I like the fact that we’re raising money for financial aid, but the walk itself seems kind of pointless to me,” said Stephen. “Maybe I’m just a downer, but if we already have the money in place, what is the point of walking for it afterwards? I’m sure that we would have no problem raising money for Elder even if we didn’t walk 12 miles.”

“Walkathons” have been used in schools and in charity organizations for years to raise money for a cause or simply for the school itself. The tradition behind it is also something that is held dear to many students, including Senior, Jake Seithel.

“I think it’s a lot of fun,” said Jake. “It’s just a nice change of pace from a normal school day, and to be honest, It makes it feel like I’ve actually earned the money I’ve received from the donations.”

A poll went up on The Purple Quill’s website to determine what students thought of the Walk once and for all, and the answers might surprise you. The question asked was “Do you enjoy participating in the Elder Walk for Others?

Of the 26 people who participated in the poll, one person felt indifferent about participating in the Walk, 10 people dislike participating in it, and 16 people enjoy participating in it. Recently, participation in the poll grew and the tie was broken. As of October 23, 36 voters engaged in the poll and 67% of the voters voted “Yes”. The number of people who voted “No” stayed about the same, and jumped to only 11 votes, putting them at 31%, and there is still only one person who feels indifferent about the Walk, putting that category at 2%.

Whether you love it or you hate it, you can’t deny that the underlying reason behind the Walk for Others is great for the school. It symbolizes the unity of our great school and displays it as the “sea of purple” walks as one in attempts to raise money so more people can attend Elder.

It’s not something that is going to go away, so you might as well just embrace the situation.