By Grace Mooney ’11, courtesy of KENT News
As many high school students were attending a last dance before the year ended, some Kent students chose to do something that was a little more meaningful. The Kent community came together to participate in Relay for Life, held on May 30th from 4:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. the next morning. The event consisted of participants walking for nine hours straight around our football field to help raise money for The American Cancer Society. As the night got darker, the bright lights of the field turned on and would not go off until early the following morning.
Relay for Life started as Middle Dorm South’s community service activity in early April. Ms. Lerchen, head of the dorm, was very involved in starting this project and went forth in urging the whole community to get involved. The girls living in MDS sold dress -down-day stickers and t-shirts to help raise funds. To raise awareness, Kent students were encouraged to create teams online where they could sign up for the Relay for Life walk with their friends or fellow dorm mates. Ms. Lerchen commented, “We were so honored that the Kent community came out in full force, with students from every dorm and many day students staying late in the night. We are also grateful for the faculty, staff, and their families, and the tremendous support we received from various departments in the school.”
The magnitude of support shown by Kent students was seen when more than 500 participants attended the walk. Most of the students dressed up in colorful attire and walked around the track for the majority of the night, taking little breaks from the walk to enjoy the night’s activities, as local businesses donated gift certificates which were raffled off throughout the night to students and faculty.
Two students in particular illustrated their support by walking the entire duration of the event without stopping. Ms. Lerchen, astonished at the level of support demonstrated said, “The numbers grew so quickly in the week leading up to Relay that I had to call the Dining Hall every day to up the amount of food we would need for dinner. There were around 240 students who participated, and close to 270 total including adults and friends.” The school raised more than $24,000 in donations; including in-kind gifts, the total amount of money raised was close to $26,000.
The event was such a success that Kent hopes to continue hosting and participating in the event every year. Ms. Lerchen remarked, “There are a few special moments during Relay for Life, including the Survivor Lap and the Fight Back Ceremony. One of the most moving parts of Relay is the Luminaria Ceremony when you acknowledge how cancer has touched your life personally by breaking your glow stick when sitting in darkness.” The community showed its love and support for the quest to find a cure. Ms. Lerchen said in regards to the coming year’s event, “We’re hoping that this year’s Relay will be even bigger and better than last year - though that will be hard to do! Kent’s Relay broke all of my goals for when I brought it to Kent, raising almost three times as much as I had hoped.”
