Joe’s PEERS, a group of Missouri University of Science and Technology students that support healthy behaviors, will host “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes,” a sexual assault awareness walk, this month. They will also encourage S&T students to sign a bystander intervention pledge.

The event will be held at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 12, at the Puck. Both men and women are encouraged to wear high heels during the walk, but are not required to do so. Participants will walk from the Puck to Curtis Laws Wilson Library and back. During the event, students will also be able to sign the “It’s On Us” bystander intervention pledge. The event is free and every Missouri S&T student is encouraged to attend.

To register for the event, email Jessica Gargus, Joe’s PEERS health educator, at gargusj@mst.edu. The first 75 students who sign up and walk in the event will receive a free T-shirt.

The “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” movement was created by Frank Baird, a marriage and family therapist, in 2001. What began as a small group of men wearing high heels and hoping to raise awareness of sexual assault has become a worldwide movement that has raised millions of dollars for local rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters and other sexualized violence education, prevention and remediation programs.

The “It’s On Us” initiative was launched in September by President Obama to help put an end to sexual assault on college campuses. The initiative is designed to help stop sexual assault on college campuses by teaching students ways they can act to safely intervene when there is a risk for sexual violence.

Joe’s PEERS is a group that promotes healthy behaviors through awareness campaigns, skill-building programs and distribution of wellness and health information. The group works closely with the Student Wellness Office.