Mackenzie Thomas
Staff Writer
The University of Wyoming is set to host both Liz Vassey and Helene Neville as speakers for the College of Business’ Sandberg Speaker series today. The event will feature a speech from Neville, along with Vassey’s documentary “The Human Race.”
The events will also feature a ceremonial performance before the documentary screening dedicated to UW freshman Kaylee Jones. Jones will be undergoing brain surgery tomorrow and will watch the performance live from her hospital room in Tennessee.
The performance dedicated to Jones will feature Alexandra Garcia, a UW graduate and singer, and Bill Froehlich, a guitarist. Garcia and Froehlich will be joined by the Laramie Drummers and the Laramie Dance center during their performance.
Following this, the “The Human Race” documentary will be shown. Vassey made her directorial debut with this film which follows the story of six runners as they go through their running journey. Neville, who is the first woman to run across all 50 states and the first to do so solo, is featured within the documentary and will be giving her own speech earlier in the day.
Vassey’s documentary was a way to help her grieve with the passing of her mother. She worked to build a documentary that focuses on how running can give hope to those in the grieving process.
“Running during the grief process kept me vertical. It was a reason for me to wake up in the morning and after each run I started to feel better,” Vassey said.
Vassey focused the documentary on six runners who were all over the age of 50. Each runner had a different reason for why they were racing, but an overarching theme was that it helped them continue on in life. Some of the runners were battling cancer, others were running for their family members.
Vassey said she was inspired to pursue the documentary because she wanted to know just how much longer she could run, because running is how she worked through her grief. With this idea in mind, she focused on the documentary on older runners who were working through physical and mental obstacles.
“There is lots of emotion in this film. You really fall in love with the characters,” Neville said.
Neville became involved with “The Human Race” after Vassey contacted her. Vassey, not knowing much about Neville, contacted Neville as she was finishing training for her run from Wyoming to West Virginia and back in 2017.
“It’s not just a running documentary. It’s a film about people overcoming obstacles and doing remarkable things in spite of, and even because of, those obstacles,” Vassey said.
Vassey said the overall goal of the documentary is to provide hope.
Neville worked closely with Kaylee Jones’ family to get the documentary and Neville’s speech to come to UW. Alongside this, Neville said there were many people who wanted the film to come back.
Both Vassey and Neville are active runners who have turned to running as a way to help grieve. Neville said there is no limit on grief, but running has been a way to help her through this process.
“Getting older isn’t a prerequisite for slowing down,” Neville said.
Neville will also be sharing her speech “Rethink Impossible” with the audience. Neville said people should not have limits put on them, and that is what it means to “rethink impossible”. She said she intended to give her audience a “message to believe in” during her speech.
“Impossible is just a word,” Neville said.
Neville’s speech “Rethink Impossible” will take place in the College of Business Auditorium from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
“The Human Race” documentary will be shown in the Arts and Sciences auditorium following the performance dedicated to Kaylee Jones at 7 p.m.
