First, I must thank the committee members of Colleges Against Cancer, those who had the courage to talk about their personal experiences, those who donated and most importantly the people who came to Relay For Life to show their support.
Relay For Life helps raise awareness, money for research and hope. Everyone is affected by cancer in one way or another. One in four deaths in the U.S. are cancer-related, so statistically, out of the 2,133 students at Union, about 533 of us will be somehow affected. Whether it’s you, someone you love, a friend, a second grade teacher or a pet—every single person has a story to tell about how cancer has affected their life.
As you read this, please take a second to look at the people around you. Now think about the hidden stories each of them has, how many of them have scars from cancer, either physical or emotional.
Using glow sticks, it was made very clear that everyone in the field house had a story to tell. But when the lights were turned off and all of those glow sticks were lit in each person’s hand to represent their scars, I did not see them as a light of hope to guide me around the track.
Instead, I realized how few people were there. Looking around the room at the scarcity of light, I became frustrated, disappointed and disheartened.
If every Union student who has been affected by cancer in some way had been there that night, the entire track should have been illuminated and a feeling of triumph and hope should have kindled inside us all.
Now think of where you were Friday night every minute between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. If any of those minutes were spent at Relay for Life, thank you. Thank you for celebrating, remembering and fighting back. If, in a span of eight hours, your time did not at all include a stop at the field house and you chose to spend the night of April 20 in some other way on campus, please understand that you chose not to support your family, your friends and possibly your future selves.
If something that affects everyone is not worthy of your support, what is?
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Firstly, as a Union College student I found this article ridiculous. As I watched the glow sticks I saw people who genuinely cared about the issue showing their support. To be honest, I do not know why you feel like you can talk down to the student body and their accomplishments. There was a lot of support for Relay and there were a lot of numbers.
You seem to like statistics so let me break this down for you. Let us say that 100 kids signed up for relay, it can be assumed that some would have had prior arrangements that came up last minute, some may have been sick, some may have been tired, and some may have went home for a last minute interview. To assume that students weren’t there doing something less worth their time is demeaning and frankly rude to not just the students on this campus but the relay group.
When a group puts an event on on campus they only want people who care 100% to be there and to be honest students on this campus do find relay a rightful cause. Walk into reamer, go to the lunch area, there are constantly a bunch of people selling great causes because they want to bring awareness to an issue.
How many cookies have you bought this week to support x cause? How many bracelets have you bought to support y cause?
So before you point fingers I think it would be important to see how active this student body is.
Thanks for your pessimism but I will continue being an active member of this student group.
I completely understand that there were a lot of other things going on that night/weekend. I understand that people support causes in other ways. I know there were people that had legitimate excuses not to come at all or to not stay the entire time. I’m not a pessimist, I’m just being honest and speaking my opinion. Last year Relay was really inspiring and filled with people who really wanted to support each other. This year, the turnout was clearly less than it was last year, and I felt the issue needed to be addressed. Perhaps you don’t agree that there were more than 300 people on campus that night that could have stopped by for a few minutes, but I think otherwise. I am always impressed by how supportive the students are for ’cause x’ and ’cause y’ at our school… that’s why it was so surprising that not as many people showed and not as much money was raised as was expected.
What else went on last Friday? I thought all Frats were supposed to be closed? That is the exact problem here, there should be nothing left on campus except Relay for Life. I was so disappointed with this campus that there was 300 people who showed up. But what is even worse is that there was only about 30 people there at 2 am. Why no one was there baffles me. There was free food, music, fun activities, and oh it was for a great cause what else do you want?. Comparing this event to other Relays for Life that I have been to is just sad. Most of them draw a lot more people, and they actually stay the whole time (usually 6pm-6am). Next year this campus needs to be shut down, except for Relay.