Losing her mother to cancer sparked Laura Kaufman’s decision to join Colleges Against Cancer as a first-year student at UCLA, and she has participated in Relay for Life every year since.
The 24-hour event, which began at noon on Saturday at UCLA, is organized by Colleges Against Cancer to fundraise for the American Cancer Society, a nonprofit organization that conducts cancer research and provides aid to cancer patients.
This was the 12th Relay for Life at UCLA. One hundred and thirty-two teams and 1,203 people participated in the event, raising a total of $113,305.84 – about $20,000 less than last year.
Member of Colleges Against Cancer began meeting for an hour on Tuesdays during fall quarter to discuss and learn more about cancer advocacy. About 25 board members met for an additional hour every week to plan the event, said Kaufman, a fourth-year economics student and one of the chairs of the event.
Kaufman said this year’s event was bittersweet for her because it was her last one at UCLA.
“It’s kind of hard to put into words,” she said, “I’ve grown and learned a lot over the past two years of being an event chair, and the people I’ve worked with have become family. It’s been a great experience fighting for a cancer-free future.”
Kaufman said the highlight of the event was the Luminaria Ceremony, which took place at 9 p.m. on Saturday. Participants lit candles inside personalized bags and placed them around the track to remember those who the participants have lost to cancer, as well as to honor people who are fighting or have fought cancer.
The ceremony also included talks from two student speakers who discussed how cancer has affected their lives, having had family members die from the disease. Additionally, participants were called to help create a slideshow by submitting slides containing names or photos of people they wanted to remember or honor.
Ellie MJ Kim, a fifth-year political science student and Google student ambassador, sat under a tent on the outskirts of the track, handing out bags and other articles with “Google” written across them.
“It’s my first time participating and I wasn’t sure of what it was at first, but I think it’s a great event for a really good cause. My grandpa died of cancer a while ago, so when Google reached out to me to participate, I was more than happy to,” Kim said.
During the closing ceremony, participants raised paper “swords of hope” that had been given to them by the event organizers. The swords are meant to represent a crusade against cancer, while the two serpents around the sword represent the scientific and medical nature of the work that the American Cancer Society does.
Logan Barton-Rowledge, a second-year cognitive science student, said he participated in the event to try to lessen the role that cancer plays in people’s lives in the future.
“I’ve had a lot of people close to me end up having cancer,” he said. “It’s always good to get ahead of things and be preventative.”
The event ended with its participants pledging to continue to fight against cancer before doing a final lap around the track.