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Putting Life in the Relay
On Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 7pm staff and students of Assumption College School will join together in an effort to put an end to cancer. This year will be Assumption College’s fifth bi-annual Relay for Life and we could not be more excited. On this night, the entire school community will join together to celebrate survivors of cancer, remember those lost to this terrible disease, and most importantly, raise funds to fight back and find a cure for cancer.
The planning for the Relay began a year ago when Mr. Page began to organize a committee of under twenty-five people, but now this committee has grown to over forty of Assumptions’ most dedicated and hard working students. Mr. Page and the Relay for Life Committee immediately began planning everything from who would be the heads of each department, to how to make the Relay assembly fun and exciting. In order to maximize the number of participation at the Relay, the committee also had to find a theme. The forty plus members spent weeks looking for the perfect song when one December morning, Mr. Page found the song “Walk by Faith” which is written by a young singer named Jeremy Camp. Jeremy wrote this song just months after the death of his wife, who unfortunately lost her battle with cancer.
As the event drew nearer, everyone on the committee was beginning to look forward to the Relay, but then some people began to question where all the money really went. That is why on Thursday, January 29th, Chaplain Wayne and four students on the committee went to the Cancer Ward at the London Hospital to see just how much the Relay for Life really helps those with cancer. The trip consisted of a personal tour of the hospital in which all four students came back in awe of what they had seen.
“The cancer research that is taking place at the London Hospital is unbelievable.” said Haley McConkey, the co-head of survivors, “It was amazing to see that the money being raised at the Relay is going to such promising research!”
Once the committee knew exactly where the money would be going, we needed to then start to put the final touches on the assembly. We had planned for an attention-grabbing assembly, that would have all of the ACS students looking forward to the Relay, but our assembly was missing something. This problem was solved when we sent Mr. Page along with eight students to the Relay U in Kitchener on Wednesday, February 11th. The Relay U is an educational opportunity where all of the Ontario heads from the Canadian Cancer Society join together and have workshops for students running Relays at their schools. The Relay U brought together students from all over Ontario and taught our committee how to make our Relay for Life that much better.
Kristin Knill, the co-head of advertising, deeply enjoyed her experience at the Relay U. “It was an amazing opportunity that brought our community together; we all pitched in ideas. We learned to improve the Relay and I am so excited to see it all come together!” Following the Relay U, we knew that we were ready for our assembly by Tuesday, February 17th. The assembly was informative, exciting, and emotional all at the same time. It began with lights flashing, music blaring, and two boxers fighting it out, until the “Cancer” boxer was knocked out by the “ACS” boxer. From there, students were introduced to the 2009 theme song, and the Relay for Life banner was unveiled. Following the unveiling of the banner, everyone in the cafeteria was brought to tears when they watched Chaplain Wayne’s very emotional video. The video was an interview with local cancer survivor Kara Box, who told the staff and students of ACS about her battle with cancer. Kara’s video caused the emotions to run high in the room, and that is when everyone was told about how they could help put an end to cancer, by signing up for the Relay for Life on May 29th.
This electrifying assembly led to a huge amount of student interest, which allowed for Assumption to have its biggest Relay yet. This year, there are over 80 teams, over 650 student participants, and almost 60 staff members involved in the Relay. Relay for Life 2009 will also have an open invitation to everyone in the neighbourhood surrounding Assumption and area, something that has never been done before.
A special thanks goes out to Kara Box for having the courage to share her story with us and to Mr. Page, Mrs. Bertolo-Pacheco, Mrs. Braga, Chaplain Wayne, and the rest of the Relay for Life Committee for all of their hard work in planning this Relay for Life 2009. I am sure that this Relay for Life will be the biggest and the greatest Relay that Assumption College School has ever seen. Thank you for all your support and the committee looks forward to seeing all of you at Relay for Life 2009.
Written by: Benjamin Vervaecke
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News Highlights
On Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 7pm staff and students of Assumption College School will join together in an effort to put an end to cancer. This year will be Assumption College’s fifth bi-annual Relay for Life and we could not be more excited. On this night, the entire school community will join together to celebrate survivors of cancer, remember those lost to this terrible disease, and most importantly, raise funds to fight back and find a cure for cancer.
The planning for the Relay began a year ago when Mr. Page began to organize a committee of under twenty-five people, but now this committee has grown to over forty of Assumptions’ most dedicated and hard working students. Mr. Page and the Relay for Life Committee immediately began planning everything from who would be the heads of each department, to how to make the Relay assembly fun and exciting. In order to maximize the number of participation at the Relay, the committee also had to find a theme. The forty plus members spent weeks looking for the perfect song when one December morning, Mr. Page found the song “Walk by Faith” which is written by a young singer named Jeremy Camp. Jeremy wrote this song just months after the death of his wife, who unfortunately lost her battle with cancer.
Kristin Knill, the co-head of advertising, deeply enjoyed her experience at the Relay U. “It was an amazing opportunity that brought our community together; we all pitched in ideas. We learned to improve the Relay and I am so excited to see it all come together!”
Following the Relay U, we knew that we were ready for our assembly by Tuesday, February 17th. The assembly was informative, exciting, and emotional all at the same time.
It began with lights flashing, music blaring, and two boxers fighting it out, until the “Cancer” boxer was knocked out by the “ACS” boxer. From there, students were introduced to the 2009 theme song, and the Relay for Life banner was unveiled. Following the unveiling of the banner, everyone in the cafeteria was brought to tears when they watched Chaplain Wayne’s very emotional video. The video was an interview with local cancer survivor Kara Box, who told the staff and students of ACS about her battle with cancer. Kara’s video caused the emotions to run high in the room, and that is when everyone was told about how they could help put an end to cancer, by signing up for the Relay for Life on May 29th.
This electrifying assembly led to a huge amount of student interest, which allowed for Assumption to have its biggest Relay yet. This year, there are over 80 teams, over 650 student participants, and almost 60 staff members involved in the Relay. Relay for Life 2009 will also have an open invitation to everyone in the neighbourhood surrounding Assumption and area, something that has never been done before.
