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Relay for Life
Students walk to save lives
By Katie Bresnahan
 As is the custom at Relay for Life events, several cancer survivors took a “survivor lap” around the campus quad to begin the night-long, American Cancer Society-sponsored, fundraising event. After the survivors did their lap, other participants joined in the walk to fight cancer. Music and excitement filled the campus quad from Friday afternoon into Saturday morning while over 300 UMass Dartmouth students stayed up all night to participate in Relay for Life.
Around two dozen teams formed by various student organizations congregated on the campus quad for the overnight, American Cancer Society sponsored event to help raise awareness and money for cancer research. Lauren Barber, Relay co-chair said, “It’s a good turn-out. I think we beat what we were going for.”
Entertainment co-chair, Swetha Polavarapu agreed. She said, “We did even better than last year, I think.”
Throughout the night, each team needed to have at least one person walking around the track (the sidewalk around the quad). The purpose of this is to keep walking for someone who cannot do it himself or herself.
This year’s Relay participants were extremely lucky weather-wise. “We have perfect weather. So everyone’s out,” said Polavarapu. As the evening began students could be seen flying kites, playing volleyball, blowing bubbles and running around the quad.
Before the students started walking, several cancer survivors took a “survivor lap” around the quad. Students cheered and applauded as the survivors came up and told them their names and how long they have been cancer-free.
Barber and Polavarapu explained that their survivor chair, Liz Verni went all out to find survivors to attend Relay. They also relied greatly on word-of-mouth.
In her opening remarks Verni, a UMass Dartmouth student and cancer survivor, said, “I attended my first Relay [in 2006,] two weeks after I was diagnosed. How crazy is that? I met amazing people at Relay. I had other survivors…I met college students who were doing what we’re doing today. And they were excited, interested and raised so much money. I was truly inspired by everyone there!” She explained that she did not have to pay for her cancer treatments because of money raised by Relay for Life.
Over by the campus center, laid out on tables, was a fight back banner for all the Relay participants to sign their names.
Participants set up tents on the quad on Friday afternoon in case they got cold or tired during their outdoor stay. There were also several activities set up for them throughout the evening. According to Polavarapu, they showed “A Walk to Remember” in the Commuter Café, they had dance songs such as The Macarena and The Chicken Dance, there were theme laps where participants had to dress up in certain kinds of outfits and there was also karaoke. Polavarapu said that everyone enjoyed the karaoke.
All around the quad and on the stairs by the auditorium were small, white paper bags with lights inside them. Each of these luminaries represented a person who died of cancer, survived cancer or is currently fighting it. People spent between $5 and $10 to decorate these bags for someone they know or knew. Once it was dark, at around 9 p.m. the luminaries were lit to guide participants around the quad. The ones on the steps by the auditorium read “HOPE.”
One problem encountered at Relay was drunk people walking through the quad and purposely stepping on some of the luminaries. “This upset me a lot because I know everyone worked so hard to put those bags out there,” said Barber. When they called Public Safety about their problem they were almost shut down due to the noise emanating from the event.
Barber said, after the event, that she could not believe how many people stayed at Relay all night and did not sleep. There were some people who left before the event ended, but that was expected. She said, “The DJ had planned on shutting down at 11 p.m. and starting up again when the sun came up. However, he stated that he didn’t have the heart to shut down because everyone was so into it.”
Polavarapu said that next year she and one of her friends will start a team for Relay for Life. “We’re going to get a bunch of our friends to do it,” she exclaimed. She added, “This is a great event. We can see all these people out here. If you’re missing out on this then you’re missing out on a lot.”
“It’s great that all the sororities and fraternities and organizations do it but I think we should try it,” said Barber.
At the beginning of the event, Relay at UMass Dartmouth had raised exactly $13,690.38. By the end of the event they had raised more than $19,000. However, it is still possible for interested people to send checks to the American Cancer Society to raise money for cancer research.
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