Year Two Update: Announcing Dates for the Nina Brekelmans Camp and Race for Girls

We are excited to announce the dates for the 2nd annual Nina Brekelmans Running Camp for Girls and Nina Brekelmans Race for Girls in Amman, Jordan!

The camp will be held on four consecutive Saturdays - March 25, April 1, April 8 and April 15 - at Sports City, the area’s premier urban park and athletic facility in Amman. The culminating event - a 3k race - will be held the following weekend at Sports City.

The camp and race were successfully piloted last spring with the support of Nina’s family and friends and the U.S. Fulbright program. Together, we commemorated her vision to promote self-confidence, leadership, and well-being among young women in Jordan through running.

When the camp started, more than half of the girls had never run 3k. Week by week, the girls learned more about running techniques and training, heard from guest speakers, and bonded over lunch and team activities.

In the end, the girls even made history! With widespread participation from across Jordan, more than 70 girls completed the capstone event: a 3k race through Sports City’s pathways that also happened to be the first girls-only footrace in Jordan.

We are proud to again work with our Jordanian friends and sponsors to carry out this vision. In particular, we’re thankful for our coaches, Mohammad Sweity and Ibrahim Abu Asbeh. And once again, we have a fantastic leadership team of U.S. Fulbright students  - Matthew Liston, Lena Hamvas, and Lilly Frost - to help lead planning and logistics and to build upon last year’s success.

Now, as we ramp up preparations for the upcoming camp and race, our goals cover three areas:

• Expansion: The initial camp was strategically small in size to provide an attentive, high-quality experience for all runners. This year we aim to double the size of the camp from nearly 25 girls to 50, while retaining a quality and supportive experience for all.

• New connections: We are piloting a video blogging exchange to connect our young female runners with other female athletes in the US and around the world.

• Fundraising: We are seeking $3,000 in grant funding from the U.S. State Department to cover transportation, food, and material costs for additional runners, and to expand outreach efforts throughout the Amman community. This will help us as we look to accommodate a greater number of girls from a cross-section of Jordanian society, including the refugee community. Organizers are also seeking additional donations from other foundations and private sources.

In the weeks ahead, we’ll provide more details about camp programming and the race. To follow along, sign up here for our mailing list. If you’d like to help contribute to our growth, please consider donating. The Nina Brekelmans Memorial Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit based in Washington, DC. All donations are tax-deductible.

Check out a video recap from the 2016 race for Girls

Announcing the 2016 Nina Brekelmans Memorial Endowed Scholarship Recipient, Samah Asfour

The 2016-2017 recipient of the Nina Brekelmans Memorial Endowed Scholarship is Samah Asfour. Congratulations Samah! 

Photo by Douglas Levere, University at Buffalo

Born to Palestinian immigrant parents, Samah Asfour tailored her educational and career goals to reflect her Arab identity. At the University at Buffalo, Samah majored in Political Science and Global Gender Studies and minored in French.

To advance her language skills, Samah studied abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France. While there, she began conducting research for her honors thesis topic on the discrimination against Muslim women in France and their counter-public spheres.

Dedicated to alleviating poverty in the developing world, Samah co-founded an organization on campus under the mission to promote female education as a tool of empowerment. After graduating magna cum laude in May 2015, Samah embarked on a Fulbright assignment in Amman, Jordan where she lectured at Jordan Applied University.

During her year teaching business English and tourism English courses, Samah found time to improve her Modern Standard Arabic by taking classes at both the Qasid Institute and Ahlan Jordan. Samah volunteered with Madrasati, A Queen Rania Initiative, where she created and implemented interactive English games for elementary education.

As the first recipient of the Nina Brekelmans Memorial Endowed Scholarship, Samah plans to concentrate her graduate work on women and gender in the MENA region. She hopes to gain more knowledge on Arab-American identity, Islamic feminism, and women’s roles in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Thank you to everyone that made this possible!

 

Samah and volunteers at the 2016 Nina Brekelmans Race for Girls in Amman, Jordan.

Check out the University of Buffalo profile on Samah

Georgetown CCAS Reflects on Memorial 5K

Recap of the Nina Brekelmans Memorial Scholarship 5K from the Georgetown Center for Contemporary Arab Studies newsletter by Vicki Valosik. 

The Nina Brekelmans Story: Promoting Women’s and Girl’s Empowerment through Running and Cultural Exchange

By 2015-2016 Fulbright U.S. Students to Jordan

Summer Forester, Emily Gallagher, and Jade Graddy

On a bright spring day in April 2014, Nina Brekelmans toed the line to compete in the half marathon at the Dead Sea Ultra race in Amman, Jordan. Although Nina had never competed in this distance before, she won. During a post-race interview, Nina described the race as particularly important to her because it was her last race in Jordan before returning to the United States Tragically, this would be the last race Nina would ever run in Jordan; in June 2015, Nina passed away in a house fire in Washington, DC.

Nina was selected for a Fulbright U.S. Student grant in May 2015 and would have begun her research project in Jordan in August of that year. Nina’s passion for running intersected with and informed her scholarship. As a Fulbright U.S. Student, she planned to research how women’s involvement in elite-level distance running shifts cultural norms about women’s roles in society. Nina hoped to use this research in her lifelong endeavor to promote female participation in athletics. To be sure, Nina was well-suited for this project. During her time in Jordan as a Boren Fellow in 2013-2014, she connected with athletes, coaches, and local running organizations, all of whom embraced Nina as one of their own.

Following Nina’s untimely death, the U.S. Department of State and theBinational Fulbright Commission in Jordan (sponsors and administrators of the Fulbright Program in Jordan) decided to create a community engagement award to honor Nina’s legacy and to help her research continue in Jordan. The prize was $1,000 to fund a project that promoted Nina’s vision of female empowerment through running. This year’s Fulbright U.S. Student group in Jordan worked together to create a proposal.

Nina’s friends and family in the United States gave us the idea to do a camp. They had talked about creating one, but they didn’t have any on-the-ground connections in Jordan to make it a reality. Together, we started laying out the groundwork based on their ideas and the possibilities in Amman.

Planning the camp was easy, largely because Nina was so well respected by everyone she met. Every idea we had was met with a quick solution through people who knew Nina and wanted to support her legacy. We needed a location: one of her friends in Jordan had connections to Sports City where we could host the camp for free; we needed a coach: one of Jordan’s premier marathon runners happened to be her trainer and friend; we needed speakers to talk to the girls about healthy living: Nina had worked with countless people in Jordan towards this end. Nina was there in spirit and helping the camp every step of the way.

The Nina Brekelmans Camp for Girls officially launched on February 27, 2016, and continued for five consecutive Saturdays ending on March 26. Each day started with a 2-4 km run with the fifteen girls, ages 8-14, who participated in the camp. Afterwards, a guest speaker addressed the girls on topics ranging from the health and emotional benefits of running to the importance of strength training and proper nutrition. In the afternoons, we focused on team-building exercises, with a focus on positive self-image and empowerment. Through these sessions, we worked to instill a love of running and foster bonds of friendship and a supportive community.

On April 9, the camp comes to a close with a 3 km race for girls ages 8-14. This race is one of the first of its kind in Jordan, specifically focusing on young female runners. The Dead Sea Ultra race was not Nina’s last because through her vision and community support at least 50 young girls will be running in her namesake at the Nina Brekelmans Race for Girls.

Nina's Memorial Design Spotlight: Kelly Kurkjian

By Kelly Kurkjian, originally posted on the Craft Room

Last June, my cousin Nina passed away in a house fire. Nina was a beautiful soul with incredible journey ahead of her. Months after her passing, one of Nina’s best friends, Mary Grace, started to organize a 5K in her memory. As soon as I had found out of these plans, I wanted to get involved. I volunteered to design whatever was needed for the 5K.

I knew right after volunteering that this would be the most meaningful design job I’ve ever worked on. Nina was a passionate runner, who took that passion to the Middle East to help improve the lives of young women through running and athletics. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to help continue Nina’s legacy and passion by volunteering my very own passion of design.

Mary Grace, Lizzie (another one of Nina’s best friends) and I worked together to establish the logo for the race and memorial website. We experimented with many designs, but ultimately landed on a strong, bold typeface to represent her strength. We included Nina’s silhouette as well in order to represent her doing what she loved. A translation of the race name is shown in Arabic at the bottom of the logo to represent her passion for the language and connection to the people she loved in Jordan.

Once we established the logo, we kicked into full gear to make all the assets needed to make the race a success. Posters, race maps, t-shirts, and race bibs were just a selection of the things we put together for race day.

After months and months of planning and designing for the race, it had finally arrived! I can’t express the feeling of having all my family together to honor and celebrate Nina’s life and legacy. It was also finally time to meet Mary Grace, someone I had worked so closely with for months. Seeing everyone together in their bright orange shirts was emotionally overwhelming, but put the biggest smile on my face.

There have also been many extensions of the memorial identity we created, including a logo for the Nina Brekelmans Running Camp for Girls in Amman, Jordan. This camp was established in Nina’s name to continue her vision of building confidence and leadership among young women in Jordan. Check out the Nina Brekelmans Running Camp for Girls Facebook Page for updates and pictures!

I couldn’t be more honored to have created a visual identity for Nina’s legacy with Mary Grace. I am so thankful to be a part of such an incredible initiative.

Check out the Nina Brekelmans Memorial website to learn about Nina, the Memorial Scholarship 5K, Legacy Projects, Tributes, and Fire Safety.

I love you Nina, and think of you always.

NBC WASHINGTON CHANNEL 4 COVERAGE OF 5K MEMORIAL RACE

DC Fire Victim Honored With Memorial 5K in Georgetown

By Andrea Swalec

A young woman killed in a house fire near Dupont Circle last year was a dedicated runner who studied Arabic at Georgetown University. In her honor, 200 people ran a race starting on the school's campus Saturday morning to help fund an Arab Studies scholarship in her name.

Nina Brekelmans, 25, died June 3, 2015, after the house on the 1600 block of Riggs Place NW in which she rented a room caught fire overnight. According to a $10 million lawsuit filed by her family, Brekelmans was trapped in her third-floor room because her windows were stuck closed and her room had no fire escape.

The Dartmouth College graduate had recently earned a master's degree in Arab Studies from Georgetown and was headed to the Middle East as a Fulbright scholar to research female runners in Jordan, combining two of her passions, family members and friends said.

"Nina was one of the kindest, most genuine people that you'll ever meet," said Mary Grace Pellegrini, who grew up with Brekelmans in Louisville and organized the 5K.

Pellegrini, 26, asked runners to keep her Georgetown Running Club teammate in mind as they ran the course that passed through some of her favorite places, including along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath.

"Think of her when you're on the towpath this morning," Pellegrini said before the runners took off.

Brekelmans' parents, Nico and Gail Brekelmans, were among the runners who woke early on a cold Saturday morning. They, like dozens of others, wore neon orange T-shirts printed with "Nina Brekelmans Memorial Scholarship 5K" printed in English and Arabic.

"It's just wonderful everyone is here for Nina," Brekelmans' father said after he finished the race -- his first -- to huge cheers. "It's really helping us."

Top honors went to Phil Royer, who graduated from Dartmouth with Brekelmans. He finished the winding course in 16:56.

The Brekelmans, who flew in from Shanghai, announced that after the race, the scholarship in their daughter's name to the university's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies had been fully funded.

"As long as Georgetown is around, there will be a named scholarship," Nico Brekelmans said.

Funds raised from the race contributed about $10,000 to the fund, Pellegrini said.

And as runners hit the pavement in D.C., another group ran in Brekelmans' honor more than 5,000 miles away. A group of girls in Amman, Jordan, ran Saturday with the Nina Brekelmans Running Camp for Girls. The group was created to carry out Brekelmans' vision outlined in her Fulbright proposal to promote girls' health and boost their self-esteem.

The house fire that killed Brekelmans also killed Michael McLoughlin, 24, who had rented a room on the same floor. He was a Maryland native who worked for an insurance company in Bethesda and had an infectious laugh, friends and family members told The Washington Post.

Lawyers for the building's owner, Len Salas, say in court documents that the electrical fire could not have been prevented.

Brekelmans would have been 26 this month.

"Nina was a wonderful person," her father said.

"She knew exactly what she wanted to do," he added before saying he could not go on.

Nina Brekelmans Memorial Scholarship 5K Race Recap

By Dickson Mercer of GRC

March 19, 2016

Nina's father, Nico, made everyone laugh at the post-race ceremony this morning when he joked: "It's easy to organize a race, right? It's very easy to do." The Nina Brekelman's Memorial Scholarship 5k (results here), as Nico himself pointed out, was orchestrated by more than 70 GRC members. It was a short race, yet it was a marathon's worth of work led by Mary Grace, who in turn had huge assists from Lindsay and many others.

The idea for this race, as we know, was born out of tragedy. As it came together, though, it quickly grew into more than a memorial race, but really a demonstration that Nina's family, friends, and teammates were going to carry Nina's work forward. Nina's spirit would very literally live on, pushed forwarded by many, including two organizations that were particularly inspired by her: GRC, her running club, and Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS), where Nina earned her masters' degree; from runners, to scholars, to young women in Amman, Jordan, where she was a Harvard University Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) Fellow.

Nina, as Coach said today, was passionate:  "She was not the most talented runner on our team," he said in his remarks, "but she had a level of talent and desire that was truly exceptional."

And running was only part of it. Nina was committed to community engagement on a global scale. Dr. Joel Hellman, dean of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, which includes the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS), put it like this: 

"We're in a really unusual moment … where you start to see our politicians turning inward. … And it's all the more important that we here at Georgetown, in School of Foreign Services, are moving in the opposite direction, looking outward … 

"Nina was the perfect example of that."

Nina's former Dartmouth teammates, Phil Royer and Hannah Rowe, both represented GRC and won their respective races. 

Nina's parents, on the other hand, Nico and Gail, who live in Shanghai, both ran their first 5k. They arrived in D.C. on Thursday, and were joined at the race by their son and Nina's brother, Rob, who lives in London, and many members of their extended family.

Nico said they were still pretty tired from the travel. "But it's worth every minute to see this and everybody coming out for Nina. Nina's friends have been just amazing - all the things they're doing. They're making a lot of things happen. And it's wonderful. It's really helping us cope with it."

Reflections on the towpath

About 200 runners gathered this morning on GU's Copley Lawn, many wearing the official race T-shirt designed by Nina's cousin, Kelly Kurkjian. The course took them on paths around the campus, with a segment on the towpath in between. And as NBC reported, Mary Grace advised race participants to use that time on the towpath to remember Nina. 

Three runners who ran with Nina at Dartmouth did exactly that.

John Schroeder, of D.C., who finished 2nd, running most of the race solo, said: "I thought about Nina, and thought about how she enjoyed running. It was a good way to remember her." He added that Nina was the only runner at Dartmouth who had earned a spot on the team as a walk-on, through sheer hard work. "It's really hard to do. It's not something I've heard of anyone doing before I got there and since I've left."

Phil, cruising to victory, looked out from the towpath and was pleased to see there were some rowers cheering for him. (Rowing, as Phil pointed out, was yet another one of Nina's passions.)

And when Hannah crossed the line, the GRC-Dartmouth sweep was complete. "I was hurting," she said, "and I honestly did think about [Nina]." 

When the going got tough, in fact, Hannah remembered Nina's distinct running form. "t's not perfect running form," she said, "but everything was driving so hard, and you knew she was putting everything into it. It just motivated me, thinking about her: just drive my arms."

Always Nina

Nina had been awarded a Fulbright fellowship. She would have been in Jordan last fall to conduct research on female distance runners and continue her studies. 

One of her big goals, as part of that, was to establish a girls running camp there. Today, with the help of current Fulbright students, 15 girls in Jordan were participating in the first ever such camp. 

There was also the idea of a scholarship.

After Nina passed, "the idea of an endowed scholarship in Nina's name was a real balm to our wounded spirits," said Osama Abi-Mershed, the director of CCAS. 

Well, that goal reached the finish line this morning too. 

Thanks to Nico's and Gail's efforts, which were supported by Nico's company, Cooper Standard, and thanks to race proceeds, Georgetown will now offer a fully-funded endowed scholarship to support students who share Nina's passion of supporting women's empowerment in the Middle East.  

"It is here as long as Georgetown, as long as the Center, is here," Rania Kiblawi, CCAS Associate Director, said.

Nina, as we have been saying - as we will continue to say - lives on.

2016 Week 5 Camp Highlights

This Saturday is the last week of camp. The final theme was on “Global Running Culture,” where the campers discussed runners who compete all over the world, such as their coach, Mohammad Sweity. 

The day also included instructions on race-day preparations to teach the girls how to prepare for their final race. Camp concluded with a group discussion about what the runners learned from the camp and about their goals in sports and in life. 

2016 Week 4 Camp Highlights

This week’s theme was strength training. After the morning run, the girls gathered together to listen to personal trainer Jasmine Kadoura explain why strength training should be paired with cardio. Jasmine taught them proper form for push-ups, squats, bicycle kicks, and burpees. All the girls were feeling sore by the end of the lesson and gladly welcomed a breathing exercise. 

The day ended with the girls presenting their homework from last week: to describe a role model. Each girl stood in front of the group and talked about their mom, dad, famous athletes, or even the comedian Mr. Bean. One of the mothers was listening and decided to join the conversation. She told the girls that she chose herself as a role model because it is important to always love yourself. All the girls clapped at the end of each presentation and cheered each other on. 

2016 Week 3 Camp Highlights

This week’s session started with a warm-up 2km lap. Then the girls were timed as they sprinted 25 meters, did 10 sit ups, and sprinted back 25 meters. They were so fast! Some girls asked if they could do it again and again so they could try and improve their times. 

Batoul Arnaout, founder of Better Opportunities and Options for Sports Today (BOOST), spoke to the girls about the power of sports. She had the girls list what they felt when they ran, which ranged from “hot” to “happy”, and encouraged them to think positively about sports. She then showed video clips of people who had handicaps, but still overcame their disabilities to become successful athletes. 

After lunch the girls were given magazine photos of people with different body sizes, ethnicity, and style and told to pick some that they thought were beautiful. They glued photos onto colorful papers and presented why they thought each person was beautiful. One of our campers, Sara, chose a women running with prosthetic legs and said she was beautiful because she was happy and exercising. 

2016 Week 2 Camp Highlights

2016 Fulbright Volunteer Team

The second week of camp started with a lap through the forest trails in Sports City followed by shuttle run relays. The girls had a lot of fun racing against each other and testing how fast they could run. 

Dr. Dania Qaryouti was the speaker this week. Her talk about nutrition and body image was informative and had the girls continuing the conversation about healthy living into lunch. One girl raised her hand and asked Dr. Dania, “what if I don’t like vegetables?” They negotiated back and forth until she came to the realization that she did indeed like broccoli. 

In the afternoon each girl received a “healthy living” notebook. Their homework was to write down all the healthy food they ate that week. The day ended with the girls cheering Nina’s name. 

GRC Announces the First Annual Nina Brekelmans Award Winner

The Nina Brekelmans Award Winner, Dickson Mercer

In recognition of our dear teammate, the Georgetown Running Club has established an annual award in Nina's memory that recognizes a teammate who exhibits Nina's passion for service, drive for excellence, love of running, and humility. We are pleased to announce the first recipient, Dickson Mercer. 

From the GRC announcement: Two of the many wonderful qualities that we will always remember about Nina were her passion for running, and her dedication to public service. Because Dickson shares those qualities, he is a fitting winner of the inaugural award in Nina's honor. Dickson is an experienced and accomplished marathoner who is not known for his speed, yet in 2015, at age 33, Dickson ran his first full track season since college because he wanted to have some fun with the sport he loves. The results were impressive, capped by his huge PR of 8:52 for 3000. Dickson also has a history of public service as demonstrated by his work, along with his wife Emily, in the Peace Corps in Niger, and his demanding stint as a guide for elite visually impaired runner Aaron Scheidies in the 2012 Wilson Bridge Half Marathon. Dickson has also dedicated himself to GRC, and his contributions to the team include sharing his vast expertise in the marathon with his younger teammates.

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Dickson Mercer

2016 Week 1 Camp Highlights

At 10 a.m. every morning Coach Mohammad Sweity leads the girls on a run through Sports City. To test the girl’s running ability, the first week began with a 4km run. More than half of the girls had never before run 4km at one time, but they all finished the laps with a sprint! 

Afterwards, Coach Sweity taught the girls the importance of stretching after a run. They formed a circle and counted to 20 in Arabic as they touched their toes, stretched their arms, and loosened their necks and shoulders. 

The General Secretary of the Jordanian Athletics Federation Ibrahim Abu Asbeh and Coach Sweity were both friends of Nina and led the first talk of the camp. They told stories of Nina, and explained why we hold this camp in her honor. 

After having a healthy lunch provided by Sports City, the day ended with name games and team-building activities. The girls all connected hands in a big knot and worked together to un-twist. By the end they were all laughing and becoming friends.