Memorial race reminds Seneca Valley students about Ryan Gloyer’s personality
JACKSON TWP — About 560 people lined up at the starting line Sunday morning, Nov. 3, to make the 5-kilometer trip around Ryan Gloyer Middle School, for the second annual event honoring the school’s namesake.
Seneca Valley Foundation development director Annie Mersing said the number of registrations this year was almost 200 more than last year’s inaugural event. And while it took some people longer to finish the course around the school than others, participation in the event is representative of Gloyer’s personality.
“He had a commitment to never quit,” Ryan’s father, Richard “Dick” Gloyer, said while handing out American flags at the finish line. “It took him three tries to pass the Army selection course, and he never gave up on it. He was committed to improving; to always keep moving.”
Ryan Gloyer enlisted in the Army in 2004 and died Nov. 3, 2016, in battle in Kunduz, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Freedom Sentinel, making Sunday the eighth anniversary of his death. Ryan Gloyer graduated from Seneca Valley Senior High School in 2000 and went on to earn two degrees from Thiel College — one in psychology and one in early education.
The school board voted unanimously in 2018 to rename the middle school Ryan Gloyer Middle School, which came with the commitment that the school district and its foundation would create an ongoing fundraising event in his name.
The Seneca Valley Foundation founded the Ryan Gloyer Memorial 5k last year, and Mersing said it is planned to be an annual event to honor Ryan Gloyer’s memory.
“He was kind, inclusive, obviously brave, very determined — he was very physically fit, so we thought a 5K was a way to encourage people to be healthy and get out,” Mersing said. “Everything is just better than we could have ever expected.”
Mersing said the increased attendance this year came from school students, who came out in droves for the event, as well as more military personnel, who attended the event and gave a military salute to Ryan Gloyer. Many of the military personnel also ran or walked in the 5k.
Eric DiTullio, president of the Seneca Valley school board, said the 5k is an important event to the district because it gives administrators and the people who knew Ryan Gloyer a chance to remember what he was like as a person. The crowd shared stories about him prior to the start of the 5k.
“This was something we wanted to make sure was an educational piece to the building, make sure this was happening every year,” DiTullio said. “It’s getting the kids, the parents involved, and it’s what makes this community.”
Tony Babusci, principal of Ryan Gloyer Middle School, said students also have gotten involved in memorializing Ryan Gloyer by participating in the 5k, and other school events named in his honor.
“What we don’t want is for it to just become a name,” Babusci said. “We want to maintain it as a learning tool for students, and bringing the community together like this.”
