Back in March, St. Mary’s College student council members raised the idea of holding the high school’s first relay for life event to raise funds for cancer research.
Students, with the support of teachers, ran with the idea and the first SMC relay for life was held at the school’s track and field on Second Line East on Friday.
Approximately 150 SMC students from over 20 teams, as well as some teachers, did laps around the track while students took part in various fun activities in the field and on a nearby water slide.
The school community had, by Friday afternoon, surpassed its fundraising goal of $20,000.
“So far we have crushed that and we’re at $30,000, and that’s excluding all our in person donations. That’s just online, so I'm really impressed with how we did,” said Marcus Palumbo, SMC student council president.
The final figure will be known later, a cheque to be sent to the Canadian Cancer Society by SMC.
The relay began at 11 a.m. on Friday and was anticipated to last until 11 p.m.
The day began with a cancer survivors lap.
One survivor who kept doing laps throughout the day was Stephanie Parniak, SMC chaplain.
She was diagnosed with endometrial cancer in 2017.
“I had a very skilled specialist and family members who were by my side,” Parniak told SooToday.
“I had surgery here in the Sault and then radiation treatments here and a different type of radiation in Sudbury, so it will be six years in July since the last day of my treatment.”
“I’ve always thought it would be so nice if St. Mary’s College did a relay for life one year and when I found out they would be I was so excited. It’s so exciting to be here and see what a small but mighty group of students have managed to put together for our very first year,” Parniak said.
“It's really important to do this because a lot of people have been affected by cancer. Because it’s personal it helps us pull together to raise money for a cure,” said Ashlyn Noble, SMC student council vice president, who has had family members of her own affected by cancer.
“The idea came to us back in March so I reached out to the Canadian Cancer Society to see what our school could do to get a relay organized, so once we announced it to our school, we had people start teams and do fundraising. It’s been nice to see everyone's hard work at fundraising pay off and everyone enjoying these fun activities today,” said Abby Wing, SMC student council member.
“It’s really cool to see our school community come together for one cause. I’ve had family members that have been diagnosed and who have passed from cancer so that was one of the reasons why Relay for Life is so important to me and why I wanted to bring it to our school,” Wing said.
“I myself have had some relatives affected by cancer. It’s just amazing when a whole school community comes together. This being our first ever relay for life, I couldn’t be more proud of the whole school community for everything we've done here for this event,” SMC student council president Marcus Palumbo said.