Relay for Life of BGSU had an extremely successful event, said Colleges Against Cancer members.
Jayna Clemens, president of Colleges Against Cancer, said that this year’s Relay for Life event raised $40,084.56 and had over 1300 participants. The total raised will continue to grow throughout the spring semester as more events take place.
Various activities took place at the Relay for Life event, starting with the opening ceremony and kicking off with the survivor and caregiver laps. Clemens said the following Luminaria and fight back ceremony help to “remind us that we haven’t beaten cancer yet.” These events were followed by Zumba.
“My favorite part is always the survivor and caregiver lap,” Clemens said. “They’re essentially why we do Relay … and Luminaria because it’s a really emotional part of our event.”
This year’s event was in memory of Rachel Boes, who was a sophomore at the University last year. During 2014’s Relay for Life Luminaria ceremony, Boes told her story of being a leukemia survivor. She found out the December following Relay that her cancer had returned, and she passed away last summer. In memory of her, several of Boes’ family and friends attended this year’s Relay for Life event. A candle remained lit throughout the entire event for the cancer victim.
“We definitely used the phrase ‘Once a Falcon Always a Falcon’ to remember her by,” Clemens said.
Throughout the night, over 60 teams participated in on-site fundraisers, and participants watched performances from Voices at BG, the High Flyers, AcousChicks, Elem3nt Dance Team, Ashley Jackson and other campus organizations.
“Our emcees and our DJ were really amazing,” Clemens said.
Clemens said the emcees, Zach Jung and Amanda Dortch, did a phenomenal job keeping the energy going throughout the event, and the DJ, Jason Bauck, kept everyone moving with his music.
One of the Relay for Life tri-chairs, Mia Giano, said, “You could actually hear the music, and it was a lot better. I liked how it wasn’t just in the middle, it was up there (on stage) and everyone was able to see it.”
Relay for Life has been held in the Track Room at the Perry Field House, but the room is currently under renovations. Earlier this year Colleges Against Cancer leadership looked into other location options for the event before deciding to hold it in the PFH Turf Room.
“It was definitely a change having it in the turf room,” Clemens said.
Abbie Joy, vice president of Colleges Against Cancer, said that while the turf room was different, she really liked the new location.
“I like that we were able to have all the tables facing each other, so instead of all the tables facing out and everyone’s backs to each other … everyone was able to face the same direction and see what activities were going on in the center,” Joy said.
Giano said one of her favorite parts was seeing how well everything worked out because in past years it had been so crowded.
“We’ve pretty much already made an executive decision that it will be held in (the Turf Room) again,” Giano said.
“This year we plan to continue the fight,” Joy said.
No events are confirmed, but Colleges Against Cancer has several events in the works for spring semester. Possible events include some sort of obstacle course and a carnival-themed event.
