Chelsea Cwiklik, senior arts, entertainment and media management major, woke up one morning and decided to do more than just volunteer at the Shamrock Shuffle eight-kilometer run March 25. Instead, she wanted to use the race to raise awareness about the negative effects of bullying.

Each semester, Monique Maye, sports management coordinator at Columbia, assigns students in her Business of Professional Sports class to volunteer at events such as the

Shamrock Shuffle, the Chicago Marathon and the Special Olympics. In an attempt to raise money for two anti-bullying charities, the Mathew Sheppard Foundation and Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center, Cwiklik took it upon herself to run the eight-kilometer race.

“I wanted to do this because bullying is becoming more [of a] problem in society today,” Cwiklik said. “It’s all over the news, and it’s something that if steps were taken, it could be prevented in schools.”

She created a Facebook page and a Tumblr account that showed her YouTube video explaining her reason behind the campaign. Much to Cwiklik’s surprise, her page received attention from countries all over the world, including China, Ireland, Austria, Spain and El Salvador.

Although the attention was much more than she expected, Cwiklik was not able to calculate the exact amount of money donated to the charities but said it was “a good amount.”

“I put links on my Facebook campaign [page] for my family and friends and supporters to donate directly through the certain websites because I wanted them to know where there money is going,” she said.

Cwiklik was a victim of bullying in previous years but said she was one of the few lucky individuals who were able to move on. She said many kids are not

as fortunate.

“I think that was a big thing for me,” Cwiklik said. “I am a very outspoken person. I wanted to give my voice to those who couldn’t speak up for themselves.”

Maye said she was supportive of Cwiklik’s decision to go one step further and will continue to offer her support to any of Cwiklik’s endeavors.

“I could totally appreciate everything that [Cwiklik is] doing,” Maye said. “She’s doing a good job, and she’s doing [the campaign] right.”

The attention did not stop there for Cwiklik. Through a friend, she promoted her campaign on KISS-FM’s night show with DJ Special K, who posted about the campaign on his blog and personal Facebook page.

Cwiklik finished the annual five-mile race in 45 minutes and 43 seconds despite having major knee problems. She had knee surgery at ages 14 and 18. When she was first diagnosed with bone and cartilage problems at 14, her orthopedic doctor said she might not be able to run again.

“Just the fact that I was able to run the five miles and finish it in a great time, that was a great accomplishment for me,” Cwiklik said. “I’m not opposed to doing this again.”