WHEN YOU THINK OF Wake Forest, what comes to mind? The Quad. The Demon Deacon. But probably you think first of your friends — your college classmates, roommates and teammates.
I think of the friends I met playing Ultimate Frisbee. Chance brought us together — we gathered on Poteat Field as uncertain freshmen, little knowing that Ultimate would become the defining activity of our college years, or that we would forge bonds of friendship that would last decades.
But something clicked at that first practice; Lauren Dayton (’11), Hope Nardini Malloy (’11), Mallory Mosher (’11), Kasha Patel (’12) and I spent countless hours over the next four years playing Ultimate. We would dash to the lower Quad between classes to “throw around.” We traveled to tournaments around the country, as far as Colorado, Texas and, in one ill-advised road trip, Florida. My happiest college memories are of evening practices on Water Tower Field, chasing the disc as dusk fell and Wait Chapel shone its golden light against the deepening blue sky.
The sport made me feel vigorous and alive; I loved spending hours outside, running. And I loved spending time with my Frisbee friends.
That hasn’t changed, though our lives look different now. Our responsibilities have grown. We no longer spend nights and weekends (or any time at all, really) playing Frisbee. But we have remained committed to our friendships, supporting each other through all the joys and challenges of post-college life, from career milestones and growing families to surgeries and the loss of loved ones.
And we are still running together, more than 18 years since we first met on Poteat Field.
We ran a half-marathon this October, traveling from California, Missouri, Illinois, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina to tackle 13.1 very hilly miles in Louisville, Kentucky. Race day was the culmination of months of planning, because completing the run was only part of our goal: We also worked to raise funds for The Linda Norgrove Foundation, a charity that supports education, health and child care for women and children in Afghanistan. Linda Norgrove, a Scottish aid worker, was kidnapped in 2010 in Afghanistan and died a month later during a rescue attempt. Her parents started the foundation to continue her work.
I had formed a connection with the foundation last year after reading about its efforts to help women suffering under the Taliban regime. Along with my sisters, Rose O’Brien (’18) and Anne O’Brien, I organized a remote “Run for Freedom” to contribute to the cause (chronicled by Wake Forest Magazine here.)
This year, Lauren suggested we repeat the “Run for Freedom” as a team half-marathon — and aim to raise $8,000 to help Afghan women and girls. Hope, Mallory and Kasha immediately agreed.
It is a cause close to our hearts. The Taliban have banned women and girls from most education, employment and even public spaces. The bitter unfairness of these gender-based restrictions is particularly potent for us, because we recognize how our own lives have been shaped by our educational opportunities — including our time at Wake Forest, which fostered our intellectual interests in subjects ranging from chemistry and accounting to philosophy, history and English literature. That academic foundation propelled us into careers in journalism, consulting, advertising and the law.
It is unconscionable that similar opportunities are being denied to Afghan women and girls based on their gender. And it is an outrage that the discrimination of the Taliban regime extends into the health care space, causing Afghan women and girls to lead shorter, less healthy lives.
As we sweated through the 13.1 miles, we drew strength from one another as well as from the humbling courage of women and girls thousands of miles away. Our effort was consistent with Pro Humanitate, our shared commitment to improving lives beyond our own.
We have not solved an international crisis. But we exceeded our goal by raising more than $15,000 for the foundation. That money, which included donations from old Frisbee teammates and other Wake Forest alumni, will fund gynecological and orthopedic surgeries for 15 Afghan women and girls.
When I think of Wake Forest, I’ll always remember the Quad, the Demon Deacon and my days playing Frisbee — but I’ll also think about what I can do next, and the power of friendship to lead us toward a better world, one step at a time.
Claire O’Brien, a partner at Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP, a Greensboro, North Carolina, law firm, sits on the board of Greensboro Beautiful Inc. and is engaged in community efforts to end homelessness. She and her sisters share a lifelong commitment to humanitarian work. They moved to Winston-Salem as children when their parents, both doctors and medical school professors, took jobs at what is now Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist.
