Hey everyone!
Welcome to Relay For Life at UVa's blog. It's the ultimate source for the inside scoop about everything Relay. Super-hip, super-fabulous, everyone who's anyone is going to be reading this, so don't miss out.
My name is Caitlin Henry, and I'm the online chair this year for Relay For Life at UVa. I'm a third year Commerce major, and my second major is in Computer Science. When I do icebreakers in groups, the fun fact that I always use is that my grandmother paid $130 a month to be a vegetarian for almost two years in high school. Also that I saw Saturday Night Live, live in New York, this January (it was Jim Carrey, and that Black Swan skit he did? I was sitting directly above it.) I'll be writing on here most of the time, but we'll have some other members from Exec guest write on here too. Let me know if you want to tell you Relay story / personal experience / feature your team on the blog! I'd be thrilled to have you :]
The purpose of the blog isn't just to showcase Relay's events in more detail, but to also showcase selected Relay team captains / teams, feature cancer and ACS related news and updates, and have Relay members share personal stories related to our cause.
I first started doing Relay For Life my junior year of high school. I was going through that phase where I was extremely concerned that I didn't have enough extracurricular activities and colleges wouldn't want to accept me (anyone else go through that too?). So I got myself elected Historian of my high school's Key Club. Somehow we ended up volunteering to clean up after Relay, because by the time we got in contact with them it was too late for us to form a team. While cleaning up the debris from Relay For Life of Eastern Prince William County, I finally understood what Relay was and how cool it was. Our Key Club vowed to participate next year (shoutout to Key Club officers class of 2009 ;]). Unfortunately, it thunderstormed and Relay got cancelled early that year, so I never got to participate in an a full Relay For Life until 1st year, when I was a team captain. It was awesome, and 2nd year I was on the Corporate and Accounting Committees. Thus, I have climbed the Relay For Life hierarchy from trash picker-upper, to team member, to team captain, to exec council member, to committee chair, and I've loved every minute of it.
I love Relay For Life because I think it's a cause that almost everyone at UVa can personally relate to. One in three Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and I think almost everyone knows someone who has or has had cancer. Personally, I have seen the way cancer can bring a community together. My neighbor and private violin instructor died of pancreatic cancer when I was a junior in high school. She was heavily involved in both my youth orchestra and my summer swim team. Her death was the first time I had ever seen my mother cry, and her funeral was the first one I had ever been to. In the spring after she passed away, our orchestra performed a memorial concert in honor of Mrs. Taylor, and the second movement of Dvorak's New World Symphony still brings tears to my eyes. In the summer, our swim team hosted the Carol Taylor Swim For Hope to raise funds for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Society, and the team still hosts this event every other year. Her spirit has inspired me and thousands of other people to help fight back against this disease.
Together, we can help make a difference in the lives of those Americans who are diagnosed with cancer. Relay For Life at UVa is just starting to really gear up in its tenth year, and I hope you will join us on our quest to raise $100,000 for the American Cancer Society!
Relay Love,
Caitlin
Caitlin can be reached by email at ceh5fk@virginia.edu.
Welcome to Relay For Life at UVa's blog. It's the ultimate source for the inside scoop about everything Relay. Super-hip, super-fabulous, everyone who's anyone is going to be reading this, so don't miss out.
My name is Caitlin Henry, and I'm the online chair this year for Relay For Life at UVa. I'm a third year Commerce major, and my second major is in Computer Science. When I do icebreakers in groups, the fun fact that I always use is that my grandmother paid $130 a month to be a vegetarian for almost two years in high school. Also that I saw Saturday Night Live, live in New York, this January (it was Jim Carrey, and that Black Swan skit he did? I was sitting directly above it.) I'll be writing on here most of the time, but we'll have some other members from Exec guest write on here too. Let me know if you want to tell you Relay story / personal experience / feature your team on the blog! I'd be thrilled to have you :]
The purpose of the blog isn't just to showcase Relay's events in more detail, but to also showcase selected Relay team captains / teams, feature cancer and ACS related news and updates, and have Relay members share personal stories related to our cause.
I first started doing Relay For Life my junior year of high school. I was going through that phase where I was extremely concerned that I didn't have enough extracurricular activities and colleges wouldn't want to accept me (anyone else go through that too?). So I got myself elected Historian of my high school's Key Club. Somehow we ended up volunteering to clean up after Relay, because by the time we got in contact with them it was too late for us to form a team. While cleaning up the debris from Relay For Life of Eastern Prince William County, I finally understood what Relay was and how cool it was. Our Key Club vowed to participate next year (shoutout to Key Club officers class of 2009 ;]). Unfortunately, it thunderstormed and Relay got cancelled early that year, so I never got to participate in an a full Relay For Life until 1st year, when I was a team captain. It was awesome, and 2nd year I was on the Corporate and Accounting Committees. Thus, I have climbed the Relay For Life hierarchy from trash picker-upper, to team member, to team captain, to exec council member, to committee chair, and I've loved every minute of it.
I love Relay For Life because I think it's a cause that almost everyone at UVa can personally relate to. One in three Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and I think almost everyone knows someone who has or has had cancer. Personally, I have seen the way cancer can bring a community together. My neighbor and private violin instructor died of pancreatic cancer when I was a junior in high school. She was heavily involved in both my youth orchestra and my summer swim team. Her death was the first time I had ever seen my mother cry, and her funeral was the first one I had ever been to. In the spring after she passed away, our orchestra performed a memorial concert in honor of Mrs. Taylor, and the second movement of Dvorak's New World Symphony still brings tears to my eyes. In the summer, our swim team hosted the Carol Taylor Swim For Hope to raise funds for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Society, and the team still hosts this event every other year. Her spirit has inspired me and thousands of other people to help fight back against this disease.
Together, we can help make a difference in the lives of those Americans who are diagnosed with cancer. Relay For Life at UVa is just starting to really gear up in its tenth year, and I hope you will join us on our quest to raise $100,000 for the American Cancer Society!
Relay Love,
Caitlin
Caitlin can be reached by email at ceh5fk@virginia.edu.
