Hundreds of people will depart from Duck Pond field and continue on the 5-kilometer trail around Appalachian State University’s campus April 18 to contribute to the Landon Hill Study Abroad Memorial Scholarship.

The third annual Coffee Buzz 5K is sponsored by International Appalachian, a student club that works to promote study abroad programs as well as improve the experience of international students who have come to study at Appalachian.

INTAPP member Ana Maldonado, a freshman global studies major from Asuncion, Paraguay, said the Coffee Buzz 5K is INTAPP’s biggest event of the year.

This year, INTAPP’s goal is to raise $5,000 toward the Landon Hill Study Abroad Memorial Scholarship, which is given to students who study abroad from Appalachian during a regular semester or during the summer months.

The grants are generally $500, so this year’s goal has the potential to subsidize the study abroad expenses of 10 students.

The scholarship was named after former Appalachian student Landon Hill, who contracted bacterial meningitis while studying abroad in Spain in 2011. He was a member of INTAPP and still has a reputation in the club.

Although Maldonado never met Landon, she said everyone in INTAPP talks about him and remembers him as an exceptional member.

“He improved our organization in many ways and he consistently talked to the internationals and visited them in Europe,” she said. “We would love to raise as much money as possible to be able to study abroad as many students as possible.”

Whitney Wright, INTAPP President and senior human resource management major stressed the continued presence of Hill at INTAPP.

“We heard stories on stories, watched a memorial video of him, and I heard really great things about him,” Wright said. “I feel like I knew him, knew what kind of person he was.”

According to those that knew Hill best, two of his favorite hobbies in life were running and drinking coffee. Considering these interests and the powerful legacy he left behind, lNTAPP created a memorial 5K in his name that also contributed to his scholarship fund.

Entries cost $18 in advance and $20 the day of the race and 100 percent of the profits of the race go toward the scholarship.

Story: Julia Simcoe, Intern News Reporter