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FRI.| 4-12-24 | ENTERTAINMENT
Student of the Year competition fundraises to fight cancer
WED. | 03-10-21 | NEWS
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), the world's largest blood cancer non-profit, developed the Students of the Year program as a way for students to gain skills through entrepreneurship, marketing and project management while raising money for LSS. Seniors Noelle de Vente and Paige Kenerly and juniors Madeline Smith, Grace McCarthy and Sloan Carlson are all participating as a team in the Student of the Year Program.
“LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world, provides free information and support services, and is the voice for all blood cancer patients seeking access to quality, affordable, coordinated care,” the LSS website said.
The fundraising is done to help raise money to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma. Teams in the program compete against each other for the Student of the Year award, which is given to the team who raises the most money during their campaign. De Vente is the first in Greenville to participate in this fundraising program with LSS.
“The title Student(s) of the Year is awarded to the candidate or co-candidate team in each community that raises the most funds during
Graphic by Ashley Van Havere
the seven-week competition,” the LSS website said.
The student who would take the spot would be de Vente, as the rest of the students’ job is to help her raise money through this process. The teams have been raising money since February, and the winner will be announced on the LSS website in March. The team's goal for the end of the fundraising period is to raise $20,000. So far, the team has secured a sponsorship from Steele Insurance, McGee Chiropractor and a subset of BB&T with more businesses in the making.
“Noelle got involved through a teacher...and then asked some of her friends and family to be a part of her team,” Kenerly said. “She asked me to join her fundraising team to help her raise money for LLS and hopefully win Student of the Year.”
Each person on the teams’ job is to send out emails and raise money, but because de Vente is the only Student of the Year candidate, her role is more involved than the others. De Vente’s job includes sending out weekly emails to her contact tracker, which is a spreadsheet that keeps track of over 200 different emails that she has to send out to her friends and family. She is also in the process of setting up meetings with different business owners in order to seek out sponsorships. The advisor for the fundraiser is Students of the Year Campaign Manager Jamie Harper, whose work includes helping de Vente through her campaign process.
“Being a part of an organization that fights for such a good cause makes me feel like my small role in it is still important,” Kenerly said.
If you are interested in seeing who the 2021 winners are, view the LSS website for more information at the end of March. If you are interested in donating to this cause and help support de Vente’s team, visit this link: https://events.lls.org/nc/triangleSOY21/ndevente
