Virginia Tech's Relay For Life has a standing date with cancer.
For the past seven years, Tech's Relay has raised more than $950,000 for the American Cancer Society. So far this year $350,000 has been raised and 5,000 participants have signed up, making the eighth annual year even more ground breaking than any before and pushing the Tech Relay For Life over the million dollar mark in less than a decade.
Tech's Relay has brought in 9,878 participants over the past seven years and has served as the unifying link between the Tech and Blacksburg communities.
Tech's Relay For Life was also highly recognized in 2007. Despite taking place less than a week after April 16, it still brought in $284,000, and earned Tech the Youth Hall of Hope Award at the National Conference in Dallas. The award was created to recognize youth Relay For Life events along with chapters of Colleges Against Cancer that demonstrate unwavering dedication to the mission of the ACS. Tech was the first-ever recipient of this award.
In 2008, Tech was honored with the ranking of top collegiate Relay per capita in the nation, holding its ranking from the year before, and setting the bar high for the 2009 event. This year's ground breaking number of participants is 1,000 more than the next biggest college event, and is helping the Tech community on its way to a top collegiate contender position for the second year in a row.
However the friendly competition between universities all over the nation leads to more than just incredible fundraising for a worthy cause.
"We go to conferences with other schools and meet some really great people," Josh Burnheimer, the special initiatives chair for Tech's RFL said. "We compare ideas for fundraising, different ideas for events, and just ways that other schools run their Relays."
Needless to say such an event calls for massive amounts of planning and even more volunteer hours to put those plans into motion. This year is also the first that university officials worked alongside the Student Government Association to make Relay happen.
"We started planning for Relay back in August 2008," said Chris Armstrong, a co-director for Tech's RFL. "We seem to be starting the planning process earlier each year. We just try and make the event bigger and better each year, so the planning reflects that."
More than 450 teams will converge on the Drillfield on the afternoon of April 24 to show their support for not only cancer research and awareness, but also for "Virginia Tech's Largest Co-ed Sleepover."
The executive board, which consists of more than 20 members, was the driving force behind Relay. They oversaw the event planning, logistics for parking, campsites and venues, entertainment planning for performances by students groups and local bands, and fundraising. These student volunteers began their work in September, and will not stop until long after the huddled masses have cleared from the Drillfield for the comfort of their beds.
This year's theme not only touches the hearts of family and friends who have lost loved ones in the fight against cancer, but also members of the Tech community. "Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back" has become the mantra of Tech's Relay and resonates through a community still in the process of healing.
Tech's RFL has made some bold changes from its past venues, moving the event to the Drillfield, placing the emotional event in the heart of campus. This change of scene forced the executives along with the co-directors to work closely with the administration.
Survivors have always been marked as a major part of Tech's Relay, and are honored with their own lap at the opening of each Relay For Life event, stressing the fact that the American Cancer Society really is working to, and succeeding in saving lives.
This year's Relay is promising to be one for the record books, not only bringing in record donations and participants, but also a monumental number of attractions. There will be events including flag football, dodgeball, musical entertainment, a scavenger hunt, cardio boxing, wing eating contests, burger cook-offs, and the well-known "Queen of Relay" competition.
The "Queen of Relay" is a daring male student who bites the bullet for the cause by putting on a lovely dress and going downtown on a Friday night to raise money for Relay. These brave men venture into bars - provided that they are 21 - strut into apartment complexes and sashay through the streets of Blacksburg all for the glory of knowing that they are helping to win the fight against cancer. That, and the man who makes the most wins the entire earnings for his team to put on their donations tally.
Guest speakers will be present, from not only our own faculty, but families of Hokies who have since passed away from cancer, and members of the community who have agreed to share their experiences.
"Another change this year is going to be that teams will not be assigned their own campgrounds, they are going to be arranged in zones," Armstrong said. "We're hoping this is just going to make logistical things easier."
Themed laps are a well-known occurrence in Relay, and there are competitions for the team who can bang out the theme the best, lending a feeling of levity and celebration. A list of all of the events and themes for each lap, switching on the hour, can be found on page B3.
But campsites are also a cause for competition at the event. Judges patrol the zones looking for the team who has best played up their chosen theme and will award prizes to the team with the best site.
"I feel like all of the love we put into planning the event itself is really what sets us apart from other college Relays," Burnheimer said. "You can tell how much we really care by the lengths we go to make it a great event."