Media Advisory

WUSTL MBA student to spend day in hammock in support of his 2,500-mile, six-month hike beginning later this month

WHO: Mike McLaughlin, MBA student at Olin Business School.

WHAT: McLaughlin will spend the day in a hammock, doing homework, reading and raising funds and awareness for his 2,500-mile six-month hike4kids.com hike through the entire Appalachian and Ozark trails beginning in late February.

WHEN: 12:30-5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012

WHERE: Simon Hall Courtyard, Simon Hall, WUSTL’s Danforth Campus

WHY: McLaughlin is aiming to become the first person to through-hike the entire Appalachian and Ozark trails back to back. To save weight, he will be sleeping during his hike in a hammock, not a tent. McLaughlin, who was emotionally and physically abused as a child and left homeless, is hiking to support the St. Louis Family Resource Center and a school for neglected blind children in Cameroon, Africa. Brooke James, fellow Olin MBA student who is legally blind, has spent four years in Africa, helping to build several schools for blind children.

MORE: For more information on the hike, visit hike4kids.com.