Students Organize First-Ever Run at Guadalupe Centers High School in Honor of Nelson Hopkins Jr.

For 12 years, the memory of Nelson Hopkins Jr. has lived on at the Rockhurst University campus.

Hopkins, a senior at Alta Vista High School (now Guadalupe Centers High School), was shot to death near campus on his way home from the Plaza library in 2009, with a college application found in his pocket. Students and administrators rallied with community members after his murder, pledging to do something positive in response to the tragedy. Since then, members of Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority and Pi Kappa Epsilon fraternity have organized the annual Hopkins Skip and Run 5K during Family and Alumni Weekend on Rockhurst’s campus to raise scholarship money for students at Guadalupe Centers High School.

For the past two years, the pandemic has meant that race, which had been recognized by the Kansas City Sports Commission and raised tens of thousands for scholarships, was virtual. But that didn’t stop organizers from thinking about ways to continue to grow the race and the legacy of its namesake.

“I think ever since we took on the task as race co-chairs, we wanted to do something to bridge the Guadalupe Centers and Rockhurst University communities,” said Jackson Hartenbach, a senior member of PKE. “This year we wanted to do something that had never been done before.”

They reached out to Guadalupe Centers High School, working together to organize a 5K run or walk for students at the school. On Wednesday, that planning came to fruition, with students and teachers at the high school running or walking the Parade Trail throughout the morning as a tribute to Hopkins. After finishing the race, the high school students learned a little more about Hopkins. It’s a history that Hartenbach and the race’s other student co-chair, junior Claire McCune of Alpha Sigma Alpha, said they learned during their own time as Rockhurst students.

“We heard a lot of that background as we were working on the event,” McCune said. “I think it really motivated us to want to do more.”

Hartenbach said having Guadalupe Centers staff, along with members of Hopkins’ family and other supporters, welcome a new idea to keep the memory of Nelson Hopkins Jr. alive made it even more meaningful. Add to that the continued support from the Rockhurst community for the race and the scholarship — it’s inspiring, he said.

“I think about the loss his family experienced, but from that loss, there’s so much that has happened that has been good,” Hartenbach said. “I think it really says something about the way the Kansas City community comes together.”