Meet Exec!

Meet the 2017-2018 Relay Exec Chairs!

Relay Chairs:

Caroline Biondo 

Year: Third

Major: Foreign Affairs

Why I Relay: My reasons to Relay (unfortunately) continue to grow. I Relay for Kathy Kleaka, Coach Deb Brown and Sally Kuisel. I want to live in a world where no one has to hear the words, "You have cancer."

Fun Fact: I have 2 fake teeth!

Maggie Low

Year: Fourth

Major: Public Policy and Leadership

Why I Relay: I relay for my Dad, who passed away from colon cancer. I also relay to celebrate, remember, and FIGHT BACK!

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Entertainment Chairs:

Rebecca Richardson

Year: Fourth

Major: Politics

Why I Relay: I Relay so that the words "you have cancer" don't have to be heard ever again. I Relay in honor of Sam Cox and in memory of Brennon Picarella and B.B. Lind.

Fun Fact: I'm allergic to every animal with fur!!!!!

Derek Wu 

Year: Fourth

Major: Chemical Engineer

Why I Relay: I Relay for my father. When he was battling cancer, I saw the toll that battling cancer takes and I Relay so that others can see the hope and support that we provide.

Fun Fact: I have hit a hole in one in real golf!

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First Year Recruitment Chairs:

Bailey Sanders

Year:
Major:
Why I Relay: 
Fun Fact:

Tamir Abbasi

Year:
Major:
Why I Relay:
Fun Fact:

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Fundraising Chairs:

Anna Cooper

Year: Fourth

Major: Marketing and Management

Why I Relay: For Aunt Caroline, my friends & their families, and for Kendall.

Fun Fact: I've been cage diving with great whites!

Logan Buckstaff

Year: Third
Major: Comm

Why I Relay: For my grandpa, my uncle, and for millions of others who have lost loved ones to cancer
Fun Fact: I lived in London before LA

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Finance and Logistics Chairs:

Laura Duke

Year: Fourth

Major: Math and Econ

Why I Relay:  I Relay to fight with and give strength to cancer patients, family members, friends, and caretakers, to honor those who lost their battle, and to support the survivors.
Fun Fact: My twin sister is the Entertainment Chair for Relay for Life at Syracuse!

Jeewoo Kim

Year:

Major:

Why I Relay:

Fun Fact:

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Food Chairs:

Taylor Hogge

Year: Fourth

Major: Kinesiology

Why I Relay: I relay for the loved ones I've lost, all of those that have been affected by cancer, and for a cure!

Fun Fact: My closet is organized by color

Chelsea Umberger

Year: Fourth

Major: Kinesiology

Why I Relay: In honor of my Grandfather

Fun Fact: I have a freckle in my eye

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Greek Recruitment Chairs:

Sam Brinkley

Year: Third

Major: Commerce

Why I Relay: My brother Hughes

Fun Fact: I enjoy fly fishing and hiking

Noah Kiernan

Year:

Major:

Why I Relay:

Fun Fact:

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Mission and Outreach Chairs:

Katie Carr

Year: Fourth

Major: Global Public Health

Why I Relay: I relay in memory of my mom and so that soon cancer will be a thing of the past!

Fun fact: I love corndogs more than the any person should.

Savannah Draper

Year:

Major:

Why I Relay:

Fun Fact:

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Publicity and Social Media Chairs:

Hannah Hecht

Year: Fourth

Major: Media Studies major & Art History minor

Why I Relay: I relay for my grandma, aunt, and grandfather who have all beaten cancer due to the progress that organizations like the American Cancer Society have made. I want to honor their strength and hope that we can find a cure to have more stories of people who have won the fight to this disease.

Fun fact: When I was in Africa we got charged by a bull elephant and we had to hop in our truck and run for our lives. They are still my favorite animal though and I have upwards of thirty stuffed animal elephants that I don't plan on getting rid of anytime soon.

Rita Cliffton

Year: Fourth

Major: Global Studies and Public Policy

Why I Relay: In memory of my Gammy Joan and in honor of my Dad winning the fight.

Fun Fact: I'm on the Ski Team at UVA and race competitively

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Sponsorship Chairs:

Emily Smith

Year: Fourth

Major: Commerce

Why I Relay: I relay for my grandfather and for more birthdays!

Fun Fact: I've hiked the grand canyon!

Marisa Lombardi

Year: Third

Major: Commerce

Why I Relay: I relay for my cross country coach Mr. Hornish.

Fun Fact: I was born on New Years Eve.

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Team Recruitment Chairs:

Ciana Deveau

Year: Fourth

Major: Biology and French

Why I Relay: I relay in memory of my dad!

Fun Fact: I've been to 49 states! (Just missing North Dakota)

Casey Baker

Year: Fourth

Major: Biomedical Engineering

Why I Relay: Friends, neighbors, teachers

Sunday Shoutout: Miller & Minh

Hey Relay-ers! I am honored to announce that this week's shoutout goes to the new Relay For Life Co-Chairs for the 2016-2017 school year: Miller Sisson and Minh Bui! Biggest congrats to these two wonderful people & be sure to say hello if you see them!

Name: Miller Sisson

Hometown: Birmingham, AL

Year/Major: 3rd year, Human Biology

Position on Relay: Greek Recruitment Chair

Why I Relay: I Relay to fight back against cancer. I have had two grandparents with cancer, and so I Relay to both honor them and to hopefully prevent others from going through what they did. I also Relay for my future career. I want to be an oncologist, and my dream is to be able to say to folks: "You have cancer, but we can do something about this. We can cure your disease." I believe the work that Relay and the ACS are doing now makes this dream closer and closer to becoming a reality.

Why I’m Excited For Relay: I go to bed really early most days, but I can't think of a more exciting reason to pull an all-nighter. Seeing so many folks at UVA come together to fight for the same goal is really powerful. And the free food. 

Did you know… That I have a twin sister? She's a student at Furman University in South Carolina. She's a lot cooler than I am, but I'm one minute older so it all evens out, right? I have two younger brothers too, and they are pretty cool in their own right. 

Favorite Flavor of Ice Cream: Chocolate. It's not even close.

Name: Minh Bui

Hometown: Chantilly, VA

Year/Major: 3rd Year, Sociology

Position on Relay: Entertainment Chair

Why I Relay: For my Aunt

Why I'm Excited for Relay: Because Luminaria is one of the best hours of my year, and that we'll be playing Hunger Hungry Hippos - Human Edition

Did you know: I turned my parents into cake ball creating sweatshop workers in high school and made them help me make 1,400 cake balls to sell for Relay. No shame.

Favorite Flavor of Ice Cream: Anything with salted caramel!

Missing Teddy Grahams

Everything about my Grapea can be summarized by the fact that he let me (and his 4 other grandkids) call him Grapea, which was my botched pronunciation of “Grandpa,” and didn’t even complain when it was eventually shortened to “Grape.” My Grapea was my hero. He spent weeks at hunting camp every fall, crafted flawless appetizer platters, fought in the Bay of Pigs, was the most accomplished sewer I’ve ever met, and had long, intricate scavenger hunts ready for me for me every Sunday after Mass. He was the most laidback, carefree, and fun-loving Republican I’ve ever met. My sophomore year of high school, my mom, uncle, and Mimi organized a get-together for his 70th birthday, and we all flew up to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the whitest town in America. We went out to dinner, went to the spa, took pictures with old boats, and had that talk. My seven-foot tall, unbeatable, deer-hunting grandpa was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

 

 

Every summer, that entire side of my family went on a beach trip. Grapea would book the house that would sleep 11 people months in advance and craft a menu that featured breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner, and (his favorite) dessert for seven nights. The summer I turned 12, I was deemed organized enough to be his successor, and I took over the menu writing and invariably assigned dessert to Mimi and Grapea every night. True to form, Grapea scouted out a new ice cream place (not too hard in New England summer, the land of endless ice cream) for every night. Sometimes, my sister, cousin, and I ended up with a late night visitor who carried a gallon of ice cream he had hidden from the rest of the family and four spoons, and we would talk for hours. The year after he was diagnosed, we waited up for our Grapea and our gallon, but it never came: he had gone to sleep at 7 pm after fighting off sleep for hours. The prostate cancer had advanced to his pancreas and was raging through his body.

 

When I was 8 or 9, I was eating Teddy Grahams and Grapea grabbed some but promptly spit them out and announced that I had terrible taste because those were the grossest things he’d ever eaten. I would jokingly leave packages of Teddy Grahams around the house for him to find, and every Christmas since then, we both sent each other a box of Teddy Grahams (although his box stayed in the cupboard of their house in Andover until my family visited them and he shuddered as I ate them.) My real present was always beautifully wrapped and labelled in my Mimi’s flawless cursive, and his box, which he felt the need to wrap with seven layers of duct tape and address in mile-high stick letters, arrived alongside it, sometimes with “poison” or “hazardous materials” stickers on it, just to freak out the Post Office.

 

This past Christmas was the first year I didn’t eat Teddy Grahams.

 

The cancer had become systemic, and Grapea was been living in a hospice and unable to recognize his family, who had been holding vigil at his bedside.

 

 

Grapea was the most supportive, reasonable person I know. When my mom would yell at me for skipping Chemistry, he rationally asked if I was doing the work anyway, and she immediately calmed down. When my grandma would flip out because the younger cousins were being destructive, he silenced them with one barked order, because when Grapea yelled, he meant business. When he would take me fishing, he unhooked the tiny fish I caught to stop me from crying because ‘it was a baby,’ assuring me that no one would ever eat it, because it was smaller than my fist. I am a lot of things he wasn’t, and I can feel his silent pride for taking advantage of opportunities he never had.I Relay because it should have been Grapea crying with Mimi at my graduation, not my Uncle Mike. I Relay because he shouldn’t have had to plan his own funeral, counting down the days he had left. I Relay because after sending me emails with the info and admission stats of (literally) 100+ colleges within an hour of Andover and taking me on visits of 15 of those, he should have lived to see me make my decision. One year ago today, my Grapea became a ‘was.’ Cancer sucked the life out of the most energetic, sensible, L.L. Bean loving, and understanding person I know. He fought until the last day, and now it’s my turn: I will Relay until my last day, and hopefully inspire others: It’s time to fight back.

 

 

RelayLOVE,

Kateri Gajadhar

 

Entertainment Committee