Rensselaer Will Host Sixth Annual Relay For Life Overnight Event April 29-30

Archival photo credit: Rensselaer/Travis Cano

More than 1,100 members of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute community, along with family and friends will participate in the sixth annual Relay For Life event, sponsored by the American Cancer Society. The overnight event will be held on the Rensselaer campus ’86 Field April 29-30 from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The Relay For Life is a community event that celebrates the lives of cancer survivors and remembers those who have lost their battle with the devastating disease. The theme that Rensselaer has selected for 2011 is “Superheroes.” Some may don their favorite superhero cape or costume to fight against their arch nemesis: cancer.

“Relay For Life is more than just a fundraiser,” said Chelsey Hochmuth, a Rensselaer senior majoring in biomedical engineering. She also serves as this year’s Relay For Life chair. “It’s a life-changing experience. At Relay, every person in the community has the chance to celebrate, remember, and fight back as a way to show their support for family members or friends who have had to face the disease. This is a wonderful way to show support for a worthy cause. The committee and I want to make this year’s event as big as possible, and we also hope to meet or exceed our fundraising goal.”

This year, members of the Rensselaer campus community, including Greek Life, student-athletes, student clubs, faculty, staff, and others, have joined forces to raise nearly $82,000 (and counting) for cancer research. Committee members hope to raise $96,000. More than 80 participating teams will walk or run laps around ’86 Field in an effort to increase cancer awareness, raise funds, and celebrate survivorship.

Last year’s Relay For Life event had more than 1,400 participants and raised $92,000. Since its inception, Rensselaer has raised more than half a million dollars to support patient services, research, education, and advocacy within the Capital Region.

Relay For Life Program Highlights
The opening ceremony will begin on April 29 at 6 p.m. with a bagpipe performance by Ally Crowley-Duncan, a freshman at Shaker High School who is also a member of the Scotia-Glenville Pipe Band. Crowley-Duncan will also sing the sing the National Anthem.

Featured Rensselaer speakers at the event will include: Fran Berman, vice president for research; Eddie Ade Knowles, vice president for student life; and Lee Ligon, assistant professor of biology. Ligon received a 2010 Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society acknowledging the potential of her work on breast cancer. Ligon is investigating interactions between cells as breast cancer spreads within the body. The grant includes a four-year, $720,000 award to support this research.

Following remarks, cancer survivors from the Rensselaer community will kick off the Relay For Life event, leading the first lap around ’86 Field, holding balloons to represent the number of years since their diagnosis. The caregivers lap will follow. The lap celebrates family members, friends, and all those who have been involved in the care of individuals diagnosed with cancer.

The RPI Pep Band will play several Rensselaer songs during the “RPI Spirit Lap” scheduled for 8 p.m. This lap will serve as one of the events themed laps. Participants are encouraged show off the school color wearing their favorite Rensselaer attire.

The Luminaria ceremony will take place at 9 p.m. The ceremony is a candlelight vigil in honor of family and friends who have faced cancer. Illuminated white decorated bags will line the track as a poem of remembrance is read, followed by a moment of silence. The RPI String Quartet will play during the silent lap.

Closing ceremonies will take place on April 30, beginning at 5:30 a.m.

A Walk or Lap Around the Track: How Relay For Life Makes a Difference in the Local Community
According to the American Cancer Society, each year more than one million people receive a cancer diagnosis. In addition, the organization estimates that about one out of every two American men and one out of every three American women will have some type of cancer at some point in their lifetime.  

 “This year, we are working to get more campus involvement,” said Brian Nock, a junior majoring in civil engineering and Relay For Life event production co-chair. “We are a campus community, and this is a Relay For Life for RPI. While the event is organized by students, we really want to share the experience with faculty, administrators, staff, and their families. This is a fight that we cannot take on alone and win.”

The collegiate Relay For Life events were established in 2001. Last year, more than 550 college campuses across the country raised $21 million to support cancer research. The events held in New York state and New Jersey raised $2.5 million. In addition, nearly 300,000 individuals participated in the collegiate events held across the country, with more than 30,000 participants representing New York state and New Jersey.

In the past year, residents in the Capital Region have been able to reap the rewards of the Relay For Life efforts. For example, more than 2,800 rides were given to cancer patients to and from their treatment appointments; 247 free wigs were given to women, and a large number of women and men received hats and scarves; 74 children diagnosed with cancer received comfort bags and 68 siblings received “me too” bags; and more than 2,000 local individuals looked to the area American Cancer Society for information about diagnosis, treatment, support services, financial assistance, or other services.

Additional highlights included: a program that enabled 204 women to attend a “Look Good, Feel Better” session to address the cosmetic effects after treatment, and a similar program was developed for teenagers; more than 1,000 personal health managers were assigned to newly diagnosed individuals; and patient navigators in 10 treatment locations continue to provide one-on-one support and information to patients and loved ones.

Most importantly, nearly $4.1 million comes to the Capital Region researchers through eight active cancer research grants, according to the American Cancer Society.

“If nothing else, we want the RPI community to come and join us at the Relay event,” said Jessica Giles ’09, manager of special events, Relay For Life. “The event is a memorable experience that stays with participants for the rest of their lives. I’ve always enjoyed stepping back and looking over the crowd at RPI’s Relay For Life. There’s nothing like watching hundreds of your fellow students walk the track and join together toward a common cause. It’s about fighting back as a community against a disease that has taken so much and touched many.”

The overall event is organized by a 23-member committee made up of Rensselaer students from the Greek Life community, the Colleges Against Cancer organization, Athletics, others from the campus community, and a staff member from the American Cancer Society.

To learn more about Rensselaer researcher Lee Ligon’s research, visit: http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2779&setappvar=page(1)

For more information about Relay For Life 2011, visit: www.relayforlife.org/rpi.

Contact: Jessica Otitigbe
Phone: (518) 276-6050
E-mail: otitij@rpi.edu