Dancing Toward A Cure

Alpha Beta Psi will host its annual Relay for Life April 9. This year, the fundraiser for the American Cancer Society will be a little different; it will be a dance.

Relay for Life is organized through the American Cancer Society and is a fundraiser tha gives most of its profits to cancer research. Alpha Beta Psi is responsible for organizing this event on campus.

Alyssa Botkin (‘11) and Melissa Record (‘11) are the co-event chairs for this year.

“Other years, we’ve done a 12-hour event where people walk around the track, and it’s supposed to represent a walk for a cure.” Botkin said, “So this year, it’s basically the same idea but a different activity.”

The reasoning behind changing the format is to make it more accessible to students and more fun than walking around the track in Regents.

“We decided that we wanted the event to be closer to college students and to their schedules,” organizer Emily Looft (‘10) said.

Although last year’s event was a 12-hour walk, this year’s Relay for Life will only last six hours. However, the aim is still the same: to raise awareness of cancer and fundraise for the American Cancer Society.

Other differences from past years are that there will not be themed hours and that participants will sign up individually and not as teams. The event has an official web site: http://teamacs.acsevents.org, where students can sign up.

“One thing that I love about how our web site works is that it promotes online fundraising,” Looft said.

Various groups in the Luther community will be involved. The cheerleading team, Eklipse and Assistant Professor of Sociology Brett Johnson’s band will perform at the event. In addition, one of the Alpha Beta Psi girls will DJ.

Alpha Beta Psi members have put a lot of hours into this event. For some members like Botkin it started last summer, but they all have a good reason to do so.

“I relay for one of my friends who died of cancer,” Botkin said.

Many students, like Botkin, see Relay for Life as a way to cope with personal experiences with cancer. The event also serves as a learning experience that helps raise cancer awareness.

“We are hoping to get 300 students,” Looft said.

Each participant must pay a $10 fee in order to start their fundraising. According to Looft, it is hard to set up a fundraising goal because every year it is different.

Taking place in the Regents Main Gym this year, Looft wants to make one thing clear:

“We are not hosting a school dance; we are hosting a cancer fundraiser event,” Looft said. “Come out and support. We want a lot of students to be there.”