Ellie Hawkins  Journal Staff

On the evening of April 13, students came from all over the Boston area to participate in Relay for Life, held at the Track and Tennis Center at Boston University. This Relay is one of many that are held all over the United States and the world. It was held from 6 p.m. on Saturday night into 6 a.m. Sunday morning. It is an event where people of all ages can come help support cancer research.

Suffolk University students were present at the event through campus Greek Life and a group comprised of Honors Program students.

Inside the Boston University indoor Track and Tennis Center there was excitement in the air. Students, families, and individuals came to help support their friends and loved ones.  Attendees were supportive and involved through the duration of this event, which can help prevent cancer in the future.

Sean Weldon from Suffolk University said that he came to help support the future prevention of cancer.

Another participant, Bianca Saunders, stated that she came for her family and friend who passed away at age 13.

The American Cancer Society is celebrating their 100th year and is The Official Sponsor of Birthdays. The Relay at Boston University was sponsored by Colleges Against Cancer. Most Relays are based off the same schedule of events every year. The event starts with an opening ceremony, where the Relay committee explains what relay for life is and some of the events that will be happening that night.

Next is the survivor walk. The individuals who have survived, or who are fighting cancer, wear purple shirts with the Relay for Life logo on the front.  They walk the “survivor lap” around the track, and after they have completed this everyone else joins in and walks with them.

After the survivor lap there were multiple other events that students could participate in: photo scavenger hunt, ‘feed me’ game, and step up Boston, among others.

At 10:15 p.m. there was the Luminaria Ceremony. This activity shows participants just how much cancer affects everyone. There were Relayers who shared stories about their experience with cancer, whether it affected them personally or if it affected someone in their family. After these testimonials everyone was given a glow stick; the lights were turned off and participants were asked questions about whether they knew someone who had had cancer. If an individual answered yes to the question they cracked their glow stick. After about 10 questions everyone’s glow stick was cracked and glowing bright.

The sound of each person’s glow stick cracking was eerie and scary.  Knowing how many people were affected by cancer hit participants close to home.  After the glow stick crack everyone watched as the word “HOPE” was lit up and displayed on the other side of the Track and Tennis Center. Then all the participants walked a lap for all the people who have been affected by cancer. As the participants walked around the track the word “HOPE” turned into the word “CURE,” showing that one day there will hopefully be a cure.

Relayers thought this was the most emotional part of the night. Many people were crying as they listened to the music and watched the pictures on the slide show go across the screen.

Thankfully right after this event the BU Jazz group came and helped lift everyone’s mood. The night continued on with a dodge ball tournament, liquid fun, zumba, Mr. Relay Pageant and performances where dance teams showed off their moves.

Some of the different clubs that participated in Relay for Life were Theta Phi Alpha, Delta Gamma, Kappa Delta, Tri Delta, BU Dental: Smile for Miles, PA Group, groups of supportive friends, and many more.

Eric Girouard, a sophomore at Boston University majoring in math and computer science said, “60% of the participants at this Relay are Greek Life.”

This year at the Boston University Relay there were 1,106 people who registered online to participate and the committee was expecting a total of 1,400 participants including walk-ins.

“Kyrena Krekel the President of the Executive Board of Colleges Against Cancer started planning this event in September of 2012,” said Girouard. He also stated that the biggest thing he wants participants to take away from this event is how much progress there has been since cancer research began and how much being here does help.

Thanks to American Cancer Society there have been nearly 14 million people who are celebrating another birthday this year and $3.8 billion has been awarded in research grants since 1946.