This past weekend, from Friday, 7 pm to Saturday, 9 am, many individuals from the RPI community joined together to participate in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life on the ’86 Field, raising $115,728.43 to support research on cancer and programs offered by the ACS. This relay was the first time such a large-scale fundraising attempt by students at Rensselaer had been undertaken and it saw much success, surpassing both organizers own expectations and the precedents set by other established programs at larger universities.
The Student Health Center with help from the Interfraternity Council organized this event. Jennifer Connelly ’07 and Terry Kersch from the Health Center first brought the idea up to the IFC and it was well-received, leading IFC President Santosh Vaghela ’07 to join Connelly and 12 other students to form a steering committee.
With the help of Kersch, and Melissa Lee from the American Cancer Society, these students started to create Friday night’s event last December. Vaghela explained that their initial fundraising goal was $40,000 and explained, “We never expected in a million years, that we were going to exceed it.”
Vaghela noted that all the proceeds will be going to the American Cancer Society. The group of 14 students tried their best to get sponsors and keep costs down. This single event at RPI made it the top sponsor to the ACS in Category II, beating the 16 other eastern schools with 4,000 to 7,000 students.
With such a large sum, Rensselaer’s contribution also surpassed the fundraising efforts of some of the larger schools in Category III, those with 10,000 or more students, such as Cornell University, Binghamton University, and New York University.
Relay for Life is designed to be a fun-filled overnight event to celebrate cancer survivorship and raise money to help the ACS save lives, help those who have been touched by cancer, and empower individuals to fight back against this disease.
At this Woodstock-feeling event, individuals from teams of approximately 15 people took turns walking around the field throughout the event, with various bands, shows, and games to entertain the participants throughout the night.
Ted Golfinopoulos ’06 said, “I have never seen so much ‘RPIness’ in one place and support for one thing at RPI. It’s kind of unique. You could feel the energy and how everyone wanted to do something good and wanted to do it together.”
Many had the same feelings about this particular event. There were 75 different relay groups that consisted of Greeks, independents, Army, and other ROTC groups, and many others—a total of about 50 student organizations were represented.
“I was surprised about how many people came out for the event. I always thought RPI students were truly apathetic, but I was proven wrong,” commented David Armandt ’06, who actually walked for two different relay teams.
This event was not only for students, but families as well. Vaghela noted, “My parents were in attendance and I know there were a lot of other adults there.” Even the administration, including President Jackson, came out to support the event.
Vaghela has already been discussing with President of the Union James Fisher ’07, about starting a club that could organize Relay for Life annually and have it become a new tradition for Rensselaer.
Vaghela believes there is potential for fundraising in the towns surrounding the school—within Troy, Brunswick, and beyond—which will hopefully lead to the school topping its record.
For pictures of the event, see the photospread in this week’s Features section, on Page 12.
