The Relay for Life committee held a banquet on April 24th at 6:30 PM to celebrate raising $88,960.64 during the event and to commemorate its members’ hard work.
Senior Elly Hayes, one of the Relay for Life event chairs, highlights the importance of the banquet.
“It’s important because we’ve never really celebrated after [Relay for Life],” Hayes said. “It’s fun to go over the year and see how much work everyone put into everything, because there are so many people who did so much stuff throughout the entire year, not just the night of [Relay for Life].”
To be invited to the banquet, students on the Relay for Life committee had to attend five or more events. Helping decorate for Purple Bomb or selling donuts at a sports game counted as events.
Inside the banquet, the students look at a yearly overview of what they accomplished being on the Relay for Life committee while they eat. Awards are also given out to the members who went above and beyond.
Sophomore Taleen Elkhatib was a part of the decoration and everything committee, and she went to most of the events which allowed her to win the All-Star Sophomore award.
“I was pretty excited, and I applied to be a chair so I hope that helps me [get the position],” Elkhatib said.
Even though she won an award, Elkhatib’s favorite part of the banquet was the emotional atmosphere.
“My favorite part of the banquet was how sentimental it got. Near the end, all the chairs talked about Ms. Jones and how much they loved her,” Elkhatib said. “Then Ms. Jones gave each of the chairs a farewell gift, and I thought that was really cute.”
Although this is the first year the Relay for Life committee has done the banquet, Hayes hopes it becomes a tradition to wrap up Relay for Life.
“I think the banquet should be an annual thing, because it’s so good to show the parents what we do at Mill Valley,” Hayes said. “What this group does is more than the money amount, [it’s] the behind the scenes of how much effort everyone’s put into [Relay for Life].”
