The Ball State Daily News included a story this week about the “Journey for a Cause” trip of Grace College senior Eddie Gill and his friend, Justin Shupe, a Ball State University senior. The trip, from Evansville, Ind., to Navarre, Fla., was designed to promote diversity and inclusion within the boating, fishing and outdoor adventure community. A portion of the story appears below. Click here to read the complete article.
Ball State student joins 700-mile-long fishing trip to promote diversity
Justin Shupe, Ball State senior business administration and risk management major, was with two friends when the idea to travel by boat from Indiana to Florida was born.
Shupe, his friend Eddie Gill IV, Gill’s family and Captain John Easley set sail June 1 on Parker Boats’ 2520 XLD Offshore Sport Cabin.
“About a year ago, we started planning [the trip] and that’s kind of how it all just came together,” Shupe said. “We were fishing — it was just an idea — and then, we made it into what it is now.”
According to the “Journey for a Cause” website, “Journey for a Cause was inspired by [Gill’s] dream to promote diversity and inclusion within the boating, fishing and outdoor adventure community.”
Gill, a senior environmental science major at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana, has received negative comments from others while fishing, according to the website, and it made him feel judged.
“Eddie has received comments while he’s been fishing since he’s biracial,” Shupe said. “‘That’s not very Black of you,’ is a comment he’s received while fishing. So, we’re just trying to break that look on fishing.”
Click here to read the complete article.