The school Relay for Life committee held their annual Purple Bomb Monday, Jan. 20.
Junior Emma Lee, part of the publicity group for the Relay, explains what the purpose of Purple Bomb is.
“Purple Bomb is something that we do in Relay for Life,” Lee said. “It’s usually on a day where we don’t go into school, and then we decorate the hallways with a bunch of information about Relay for Life.”
Purple Bomb is most noticeable by the main entrance and staircase. This area was heavily decorated with purple streamers and banners. Senior Meg McAfee, one of the relay chairs, said the reason for Purple Bomb is to give Relay for Life a presence around the school and remind students that team signups are finally open.
“It’s to get everyone to get [Relay for Life] on people’s minds,” McAfee said. “It’s always the week of team sign-ups, so it reminds people to sign up for Relay.”
On the other hand, setting Purple Bomb up is no easy task as McAfee explains what was hardest for her.
“You come in with a vision, but we rely on this since we are a fundraising and charity organization, and donations that our committee members bring in and just stuff we have left over in the closet,” McAfee said. “The hardest thing is we didn’t end up getting the purple balloon donations that we thought we were going to get, so we kind of had to shift our focus and supplement with a lot of white balloons. So I think it’s just kind of having to adapt.”
Since the organization is heavily dependent on donations, things don’t always match the original vision. Although the organization has displayed excellent flexibility, according to Lee, there was another challenge.
“The hardest part [is] there’s just a lot of things to do, and I would say doing things efficiently. But usually, we can always get it done, but there’s just a lot to set up.” Lee said.
Due to limited hands and many tasks, setting up Purple Bomb was challenging. Although there was strain, the Relay for Life committee managed to decorate the school in one day. However, preparations were not limited to just Monday. Senior Elly Hayes, one of the relay chairs, explained the part she found the hardest.
“The banners that we made, [were the hardest] because there was only one last year that I painted, this year we made two,” Hayes said. “I made our superhero logo, and it’s a little cancer ribbon with t
he cape. And then we also made a Batman-themed one that’s on the landing of the staircase. That took 12 hours total to make both of those combined. I did have help, so I’m very grateful for that but that was the most difficult part.”
Although the setup went very well overall, Lee talks about what she wants from next year’s Purple Bomb.
“Just try to get more people involved so that we can get things done faster,” Lee said.
