Relay for Life

By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

Teachers at Philemon Wright High School and Hadley Junior High had to deal with hundreds of “exhausted” students on Monday, May 12, who had been up all night on Friday, May 9.

But they weren’t partying. And they weren’t studying either. 

Instead, more than 280 students from both the high school and junior high walked all night at the school with their friends to raise money for cancer research, more than $59,000 worth of fundraising. 

Hadley and Philemon’s Relay for Life is an all-night cancer fundraiser, where students raise money, do endless laps around the school’s track, play games, eat snacks and stay up all night, from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. Parents have to deal with tired teenagers Saturday morning – an exhaustion that persists with the students even to Monday morning, according to teachers. But for close to $60,000 in cancer funding, it’s all worth it. 

“It was incredible to see so many students come out this year,” said Hadley phys-ed teacher Katie Campbell, who has volunteered at the Relay for Life since it launched six years ago. “We started this event back in 2019 and had under 200 participants that year. So this has been the most participants we’ve ever had by far, which was a lot to take on. But it ended up being a really great event.” 

Campbell told the Low Down that when the Relay for Life committee was organizing this year’s event, they had an ambitious goal of raising $50,000 for cancer research, which would have been the most money the event had raised to date. She admitted that it was an ambitious goal, but by Monday, money was still being tallied, and the total was already over $55,000. 

“It’s absolutely insane,” said Campbell. “And I was like, ‘All right, that’s a lot of money, I don’t know if we’re gonna be able to do that.’ And then we hit $50,000 before our event even started on Friday night.”

“I was exhausted, I slept for 14 hours when I got home,” said Grade 9 student Belle Harrison, who was part of the Mall Walkers team – a gaggle of teenage girls who donned 90s-style tracksuits, ankle weights and “old lady glasses” for the event. The Edelweiss teen has done the relay every year since she arrived at Hadley in Grade 7 and said she has family who experienced cancer in the past and wants to do her part to help more people fight the disease. 

“I do it because I have family that has either survived cancer or died from cancer,” said Harrison. “It’s meaningful, and also fun, staying up all night, raising money.”

Grade 9 student Capri Dolan said that the Relay committee did a good job with building in fun activities, like the giant inflatable obstacle course that kept kids running up and down, literally all night and into the wee hours of the morning. The La Pêche teen said she was the unofficial obstacle course champ. 

“My great grandma had cancer,” said Dolan, answering why she takes part in Relay for Life every year. “And also for the people who will get cancer and who are going through it now – I want to fundraise money for them.”

Campbell said school spirit was especially strong this year, with many teams dressing up in their own theme – everything from gorilla costumes to princesses, including a pig. She said the event blends both schools together seamlessly and creates a shared experience for older senior students as well as freshmen. 

“I think it’s just really incredible to see our students come together as a community because it really connects them from Grade 7 all the way through to Grade 11,” said Campbell. “So you get to see these students interacting with the older students and the younger ones, all coming together for a bigger cause. Cancer affects everyone here in our building in one way or another, with one in two Canadians being diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.”

Since its inception in 2019, Relay for Life at Philemon and Hadley has raised more than $170,000 for cancer research.