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CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee
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Communicators Outside the Lines Feature Series
This is the next profile in a series entitled
Communicators Outside the Lines: Better Yourself, Better Your Community produced by the CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee. Read past profiles at
CoSIDA.com/CommunicatorsOTL.
WE NEED YOUR IDEAS!
If you have any ideas for this series, which will revolve around CoSIDA member volunteerism and health and wellness, please contact Goodwill and Wellness Committee chair
Megan Jameson, St. Edward's University Associate AD for Marketing and Communications, at
mhardin@stedwards.edu.
Jeremy Rosenthal – Giving Back One Step at a Time
Indiana, Assistant Director of Strategic Communications
by Chris Mitchell – Granite City School District (IL), Manager of District Communications
CoSIDA Goodwill and Wellness Committee Member
Indiana University Assistant Director of Strategic Communication
Jeremy Rosenthal attended his first CoSIDA convention 11 years ago in Marco Island, Fla.
That same year Rosenthal was also introduced to the CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee.
"Initially I heard about the 5K, and I signed up, and then reached out to committee chair Sam Atkinson about the committee and to see if I could be a part of it," Rosenthal. "I always have been interested in volunteering and giving back, and this was just a natural fit."
Jeremy Rosenthal attended his first CoSIDA convention in 2011 in Marco Island, which was the first year of the CoSIDA 5K.
Since Rosenthal took over as chair of organizing the 5K at the 2016 CoSIDA Convention in Dallas, the Goodwill & Wellness committee has raised over $23,000 for local charities. The
2021 CoSIDA Virtual 5K Run/2-mile Walk is scheduled from June 5-15 and will be the 11th annual event with all proceeds going to the
Frontline Outreach SportsCenter Youth Network.
Rosenthal played sports growing up as a kid — soccer, basketball and baseball. His freshman year at West Lafayette High School in West Lafayette, Ind., he went out for track to stay in shape for basketball, and the following fall he went out for cross country after the coach convinced him to give it a try.
"Being part of high school sports and cross country especially, made me get interested in this profession. I like the idea of being a part of a team," Rosenthal said. "I still remember the special bonds, the team dinners, and the comradery of being part of a team."
Rosenthal began increasing his mileage as part of the Indiana University Run Club in 2006 as a college freshman, but he didn't stop there. He graduated from IU in 2010, and mileage continued to increase.
Rosenthal has completed four marathons to date — (Indianapolis (2009, 2014), Columbus (2015) and Boston (2017).
"I never thought I would run a marathon. It's about the process of training and where you can push yourself," Rosenthal said when asked why he enjoys to run. "Doing something that is uncomfortable, and seeing your improvement is gratifying."
Gallery: (5-6-2021) Jeremy Rosenthal | Communicators OTL
Why is fitness such a high priority in your life?
I think it was instilled in me at an early age. I have memories growing up playing basketball with my three brothers. We would play against my dad and his team name was the Asparagus Wolves because we asked him at dinner one night to come up with a name and I guess we had asparagus at dinner.
Being physically active, which for me is running almost every day now, makes me feel good. I think there are both physical and mental health aspects of it and I think they are related. I love the feeling of getting a run in the morning and getting the day off to a great start in that way.
Why is it so important for you to give back?
This goes back to a young age as well. I have a photo in a newspaper of being at nursing home with my mother, a registered nurse when I was one-year old. My father was a professor for over 30 years. I think the idea of giving back and helping others has been with me for a long time. I really enjoy helping others and making people smile and making their day better. I think if we all focused on ways we could do that, the world would be a better place. We tell our student-athletes at Indiana, you are part of something bigger than yourself and I think that is the essence of giving back to others.
Do you have a favorite memory of your 11 years on the CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee?
This is a difficult question because there are so many great memories. I think having my whole immediate family at the 5K Run in Washington D.C. and having my parents at the 5K and service project in 2019 in Orlando meant a lot. I talk to them all the time with pride about the activities I work on and help organize, but for them to see it firsthand and to be able to share the experience with them meant a lot to me. For them to meet some of my colleagues, who have become great friends in the Goodwill & Wellness Committee was also really special. Seeing the 5K grow over the years has been very special and participating in our community services projects has been very meaningful as well.
The CoSIDA Fitness Challenge has expanded each year since its inception in 2018. Does it bring you joy to bring a group of colleagues together who all have the same vision - to improve health and wellness?
Last year when we introduced the team element to the fitness challenge, that took it to a new level. I have been so inspired by personal success stories from so many participants in the fitness challenge. Those personal success stories have been helped by creating a community of support and motivation where people are constantly encouraging each other to reach their goals and celebrate those achievements. As some people struggled with isolation in the midst of a global pandemic, the ability to connect with others was important both for physical and mental health. In addition to the fitness aspect of the challenge, people were able to meet and connect with people in the profession that they otherwise would not have had that opportunity.
What challenges have you faced the past two years while planning the CoSIDA Virtual 5K Fun Run/2-Mile Walk?
I haven’t really seen it as a challenge, but more of an opportunity. I know we would all like to be able to be at our convention in person and hopefully we can do that soon enough. The amazing thing with putting on a virtual event is ANYONE can do it! And they can do it from any location! The amount of new people that have been able to participate has been a great bonus. I probably e-mailed about 50 people in my athletic department at IU to ask if they would be interested in participating. 25 people from our athletic department ended up participating and these are 25 people who if the 5K was not virtual, they would not have been able to participate.
I would encourage all to consider participating in our Virtual 5K Run/2-Mile Walk. You can access our event page by clicking
here. Reach out to people in your athletic department and recruit people to join you! We are supporting a great project with the proceeds from the event, which you can learn more about by clicking
here. You don’t have to be a CoSIDA member to participate. I have five people from my family already signed up!
Click here to learn more about CoSIDA's Goodwill and Wellness initiatives and find out how YOU can get involved.