By Ally Nguyen
Elementary school students raise their hands after senior Abby Hoepner asked who knows somebody affected by cancer during the Relay for Life community presentation at Horizon Elementary on Tuesday, Feb. 26
Jaguar Nation shares Relay for Life information at elementary schools
Missions committee travels to local elementary schools promoting the event through an interactive presentation
Travelling to local elementary schools for the first time this year, Jaguar Nation is sharing information about Relay for Life through games and interactive presentations.
As a member of the Missions committee, senior Abby Hoepner uses the presentations as a way to effectively reach this part of the community. According to Hoepner, the presentation begins with a description of how Relay for Life is fundraising for cancer research. Because the fundraised money cancer research specifically affecting youth, the mission relates to the elementary students and gets to the “soul purpose” of Relay.
The second part of the presentation is more interactive, according to Hoepner. After a description of what what will take place at Relay for Life, a video is shown to get the kids excited and the committee leads students in playing a game.
Senior Payton Totzke hopes the incentivization of wristbands will increase the attendance of elementary students.
“We made wristbands and we are going to give it to [the elementary students],” Totzke said. “If they wear them on the night that they come [to Relay] they get three free games.”
According to junior Morgan Blubaugh, taking the presentation to the family aspect of the community is important because of poor attendance in previous years.
“We decided that we want to start [presenting the elementary schools] this year because our games are all geared towards elementary students and we haven’t had that many show up in the past,” Blubaugh said. “Now, we want to go cater to them and show them what Relay is all about.”
Hoepner believes their attendance is significant because onsite fundraiser play a large role in the total goal.
“From six to ten at Relay for Life anyone from the public is welcome to come to our event. That’s a big part of our fundraising is from people who aren’t on teams coming to participate in those onsite fundraisers,” Hoepner said. “[They] play the games and buy different things there to help contribute to our fundraising.”
Totzke hopes their message has a lasting impact on the kids.
“Even though [the kids] don’t quite understand everything, I think they have been impacted by it already and they’re excited. Hopefully they remember it,” Totzke said.