Cayuga Secondary's Relay for Life a Record-Breaking Success

_{The student team behind Cayuga Secondary School's successful event}

Cayuga Secondary School’s annual Relay for Life fundraiser has reached a new milestone, raising an impressive $74,714.14 for the Canadian Cancer Society after organizers calculated additional donations and online contributions submitted following the event, held May 8 to 9. 

The all-night fundraising event is a decades-long tradition of community-building and teamwork at the school, drawing support from across the region to unite around an important cause. This year's effort was months in the making and brought together nearly 300 student participants.

“When running an event on a huge scale like this, it takes a village,” said Mykelti Whiting, an educator and Cayuga Secondary graduate, who took on a staff advisory role to the student-led committee made up of learners from the Grade 11 and 12 leadership class. “The student team behind this was a special thing to watch. I cannot praise them enough for their drive, spirit, creativity, and teamwork. Their leadership was the driving force behind the success of Relay this year.”

Planning for the 12-hour event began in March after students attended Relay University, a youth training session in London, Ont. From there, committee members spent nearly every school day preparing, from organizing a launch assembly in April to tracking donations and securing support from local businesses and community sponsors.

Whiting said Relay for Life gives students the opportunity to develop strong communication, organization, time-management, and leadership skills while working toward a shared purpose. For many involved, the cause is deeply personal.

“A number of committee members this year have been directly affected by cancer,” Whiting said. “They understood the importance of this event, not only in the ways it supports a great cause, but in the way that community is established through events like this.”

Grade 10 student Lyla Yager said the experience became much more than a school assignment.

“This relay meant much more than just a class assignment,” Yager said. “It involved a group of passionate students, along with Ms. Whiting, to pour our hearts into something larger than just a class project.”

Throughout the event, students participated in games, laps around the track, shared a meal, and took part in a ceremony honouring cancer survivors and loved ones lost to it. Whiting described emotional moments, as students comforted one another and reflected on the impact cancer has had on their lives.

"We learn so much about life — and about ourselves — through our relationships with others," said Whiting. "We gain so much from connection, from caring for and about the people we are surrounded by, and Cayuga Secondary has always fostered this, driven by staff and students who understand what it means to be part of a community."