On Wednesday, Nov. 2, DuBourg Hall room 157 was nearly full with energetic students eager to be a part of this year’s Relay For Life kickoff. Relay For Life is an American Cancer Society-sponsored, team event taking place next April to raise money to fight cancer and promote awareness of cancer in the community. Teams of eight to 15 students, faculty, staff, and family members take turns in the relay. One team member must always walk the track, alternating shifts with other teammates, while the rest take part in the provided entertainment, food and games. The teams take pledges to always have a member walking the course. Participants of last year’s Relay demonstrated some of the more amusing activities for the kickoff, including the frozen T-shirt contest, Mr. Relay (in which the boys dress in drag to compete for the title of Mr. Relay) and their own miniature version of Fear Factor. “Basically, it’s just the eating part of Fear Factor. We go out and buy the grossest-looking thing we can find,” a demonstrator explained. The games aside, one of the most important parts of Relay For Life is the Luminaria Ceremony. “We want to make sure [Relay For Life] is for the survivors; we want to make sure we are honoring and remembering those cancer survivors,” said Stephanie Kash, the income development specialist for the American Cancer Society. During the ceremony, hundreds of homemade luminarias (paper bags with candles and sand) are set up, each representing a survivor or a victim of cancer and their strength in fighting the disease. These bags are purchased for $5 each, which goes toward the final goal of the Relay. The goal is to sell 1,200 luminarias this year, which is, ideally, one bag per participant. Last year, a total of $11.7 million was raised, and this year the group is setting their sights even higher. “We’re going to try to make this year as much fun and as big and powerful as possible,” said Tyler Robertson, a cancer survivor and this year’s student co-chair. Relay For Life’s donations actively help the cause. “The money you guys raise does come back to SLU, Wash. U. and other Missouri schools, and it goes to research here, because that’s where we’re going to find the cure,” said Beth Ruether, the American Cancer Society health initiatives specialist. The portion of the money that doesn’t go to find the cure goes to help inform the people. “The main goal is to raise awareness of cancer going on all around us,” said Brittany Robertson, a cancer survivor and chair of the luminaria committee. “We want to relay so someday people like us don’t have to be here doing this.” The most important thing they want is to get people involved, Tyler Robertson said. “We want everyone to know that this is a Saint Louis University community event; it is not just an undergraduate event. We want faculty and staff involved as well.” For more information, e-mail [email protected] or check online at www.acsevents.org/slu. “If you haven’t done this before, you’ll do it and want to do it from now until forever, whenever, and you’ll never want to stop,” Ruether said.