Stephanie Kreiner’s Legacy Grows at Her Alma Mater
Each year during Homecoming & Family Weekend, Dickinson College holds a run and walk in memory of Stephanie Kreiner, a 2003 graduate killed by a drunk driver in 2004. And each year, Kreiner’s legacy grows.
The fifth annual Run for Steph, held Oct. 11, was no exception. The event attracted 377 participants and raised nearly $6,000 for a college athletic fund. Both figures exceeded last year’s record totals of 215 participants and $4,000 in funds raised.
Fifteen relatives of Kreiner, including her mother, father, sister, grandmother, step-father, niece, an aunt and several cousins observed or participated in the event, which featured a 3.1-mile race and two-mile walk.
Money raised through entry fees and donations will go to the McAndrews Fund for Athletics. The fund was established to enhance the intercollegiate experiences of Dickinson student-athletes by providing additional funding to athletics, increased student recruitment, visibility locally and nationally and the opportunity to reconnect alumni to the college.
Kreiner, a biology major from Maryland who wanted a career in nursing, was a star four-year defensive player on the lacrosse team and was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She also maintained statistics for the field hockey team. An active and caring student at Dickinson, Kreiner once organized a fundraiser that collected $2,000 for a fellow student whose mother was stricken with leukemia.
“I feel like I’m coming back to a place that Stephanie considered her home,” said Kreiner’s mother, Jane Kreiner-Petro of Baltimore. “It means so much to us to see how many people are dedicated to keeping memories of Stephanie alive.”
Kreiner’s father, John Kreiner, walked the two-mile course with his mother—Stephanie’s grandmother—Rita Kreiner.
“Stephanie loved it here,” said John Kreiner, also of Baltimore. “The fact that it gets bigger every year … it’s overwhelming.”
Family members visited a dogwood planted outside the college’s Kline Athletic Center in memory of Kreiner. They left flowers under the tree, next to a plaque with the words “In loving memory of Stephanie L. Kreiner ’03.”
Event organizers included volunteers with the Department of Biology, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and the women’s lacrosse and field hockey teams.
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