“Bankrupt Cancer” was this year’s slogan for Ohio Northern University’s Relay for Life held on March 31 in the King-Horn Sports Complex.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, and many lives have been turned upside down due to the hideous nature of the disease.
Colleges Against Cancer organized the event, and this year’s theme was Monopoly, which meant the various organizations that participated needed to base their tables and activities around the board game.
Bankrupting cancer, as the slogan suggested, isn’t one person’s job. Many college students rallied together to end cancer this year, including freshman pharmacy major Jessica Sieg.
“I did some volunteer work in Cleveland at the Hope Lodge for the American Cancer Society,” she said. “When I saw the logo here, I was like, ‘I’ve heard of this before; I think I should try it out.’ Everyone’s really supportive, and it’s a nice feeling. Everyone’s here for a cause, and I think it’s really great.”
Junior pharmacy major and co-president of Colleges Against Cancer Matt Hill helped organize the event this year, which he said was very successful.
“Relay, in its essence, is designed to be a time for a whole community to come together and celebrate how far we have come in our fight [against] and to honor those who have come before us,” Hill said. “This was excellently displayed at this year’s Relay; I am proud and grateful for all our participants this year.”
Hill said he especially wanted to encourage student involvement this year. In turn, more entertainment was included, as well as more team and individual competitions.
The entertainment this year included the brothers of Phi Mu Alpha, Fearless ShenANYgans, Pie a Professor, Trivia, and Zumba.
“This year we tried to implement a much more involved Relay,” Hill said. “We tried to build up our entertain- ment schedule and encourage more team engagement through the addition of some team and individual competi- tions. This is something we hope to further build in the future.”
In total, the campus community raised $15,880.91. This money will go toward supporting cancer research and alleviating the costs from treatment and transportation for many patients.
“I hope that after attending Relay for Life, everyone at the event will attain both a sense of pride and a sense of humility,” Hill said. “Pride for supporting a great cause to help end such a horrible disease, but also a sense of humility in the realization that the human life is very precious and often fragile. Through Relay, we help to show people that there is power in numbers and that we can do incredible, world-altering things through a combined effort such as this.”
For some students, attending Relay for Life events is a tradition. For others, it’s a new experience. This was Sieg’s first year participating in Relay for Life at ONU.
Sieg said, “I think it’s really cool. It’s nothing like I thought it was going to be like. Actually, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. There’s so much energy, and everyone’s so excited. So many different kinds of people are here, and I think that’s really great.”