ANDOVER, Mass. — Sunday morning, the 9th annual “Step up for Colleen 5-K” run and walk in Central Park, honored the beloved Danvers teacher who was brutally killed by a student back in 2014.
More than three thousand people celebrated the way in which Ritzer lived her short 24-year and not how she died. A “sea of pink” filled the park before runners and walkers stepped off from the starting line around 9 a.m. and 25-year-old Katie Rex had the honor of singing the national anthem. Rex is also a 2015 Colleen Ritzer Memorial Fund Award recipient.
“It was overwhelming and emotional, singing the national anthem with thousands of people on hand, it just brings tears to my eyes,” said Rex.
Participants have shown up year after year, including Marianne Cashman of Andover and 16 others who formed the team “Love 4 Lori” in honor of the late Lori Bertrand, who bravely fought a hard battle against pancreatic cancer.
“There is so much good energy here. We’re here to celebrate the life of Colleen Ritzer,” Cashman told Boston 25 News. Adding, “Both Colleen and Lori were the queens of kindness.”
Runners and walkers pounded the pavement before crossing the finish line in colleen’s memory.
Peggie Ritzer, Colleen’s mother said, “they’re here because of Colleen and it means the world to us and gives us something to look forward to and it helps us have so many future teachers’ and we just love that!”
Nina Caron is the race director and her daughter was best friends with Colleen growing up. “She had a love of community love of family, love of connection, she was all about kind compassionate living,” said Caron.
Proceeds benefit The Colleen Ritzer Memorial Fund awarding more than 3-hundred-70 thousand dollars in grants and scholarships to future teachers like 2015 recipient Katie Rex, a special education teacher at the Spofford Pond School in Boxford. Rex didn’t realize the scholarship funds would continue after her first year at UNH.
“When I was about to start the second year, I received another check in the mail and it was just shocking and overwhelming,” Katie Rex shared with Boston 25 News. “Colleen always wanted to be a teacher from the time she was very young and we like to hear from a lot of the recipients since I was a little girl, I played school and little boys. 22:20 to carry on her kindness and caring of students, they need a mentor like that.”
May was chosen for a reason. On May 13th, 2022, Colleen Ritzer would have celebrated her 33rd birthday and Peggie Ritzer says the scholarship committee is busy choosing the next batch of award recipients.
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