Eduardo Diaz Deanda left West Port High School as the top cross-country runner in Marion County and as the first person in his family to go to college.
The lifelong soccer player garnered college offers on the pitch but picked up cross country running as a senior. In his first race, Diaz Deanda paced the Wolf Pack to the first of five distance running school records and a full ride Division I scholarship.
Now as the cross-country team captain at Stetson University, Diaz Deanda is giving back to trailblazing students who are breaking down barriers within their families. On August 9th at 7 a.m., Diaz Deanda will throw the inaugural First Generation 5K, a race set to raise money for first-generation college students.
“We wanted to create this because it impacts a community that gave us so much,” Diaz Deanda said of the race. “It’s going to be, we’re going to raise money for scholarship funds for first-generation college students. We’re just trying to raise money because I am a first-generation college student, I know how important that money is to have a better future.”
The race functions as a time trial event for avid runners of all ages to participate in. With vendors and a DJ at the course, Diaz Deanda plans to bring the community together at his fundraising event.
All proceeds from company sponsors, race registration fees, and all general donations from the website will be given to the First Generation Foundation, La Vida Valiente Foundation and local scholarship programs around Marion County that helped Diaz Deanda cover the costs associated with college life.
As a volunteer assistant coach at West Port, he’s worked with numerous athletes who want to attend college. The hindrance he’d heard time after time was the price of attendance. Seeing that market inefficiency made him sprint into action.
“Running hurts, but what keeps me going is being able to run for those weren’t able to run,” Diaz Deanda said. “I have a lot of friends that weren’t able to go to college, and I run for them. I have a lot of family members who have some disabilities, they can’t run. I run for them. And I run just for kids as well that don’t have the ability. I’m very blessed to be where I’m at. I run for them, and also the hard work ethic I see is I try to be an inspiration, a role model to everyone that sees me.”
Diaz Deanda, an active student-athlete at Stetson University, didn’t wait to establish this philanthropic endeavor until he was on the other side of college. Instead, he’s doing it now for people like his sister, West Port’s girls cross country team captain, Ximena Diaz, and the countless other students who may struggle with the cost of continuing their education.
“I probably wouldn’t be able to go to college without it (cross country),” Diaz Deanda said. “I know how important a college education is. It’s day and night. There are people out there that want to do it, so I want to help raise money so they can achieve their dream.”
Diaz Deanda, who is the son of Mexican immigrants from the Tarahumara tribe renowned for its barefoot distance running tradition, used the hard work his parents exemplified in every step of his academic and athletic journey.
It helped him etch his name into the West Port record books. In just 21 years of life, he’s already found a way to mentor the next generation, and it all starts with one step towards the finish line.
“Eduardo has taken his passion for running to another level,” West Port head track and field coach Terrell Davis said of Diaz Deanda. “Giving back to the community is one of the greatest acts of kindness that one can possibly exhibit. He has blossomed into one heck of a runner and is arguably the greatest distance runner in West Port’s young history.”
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: ‘I run for them’: Eduardo Diaz Deanda giving back to Ocala community with philanthropic 5K
Reporting by Allen Pettigrew Jr., Ocala Star-Banner / Ocala Star-Banner
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
