St. Jude’s rally against childhood cancer

by Caitlin Conner
Staff Writer
Video by Keely Leonard

             Monday, Feb. 1^st kicked off the beginning of St. Jude’s Rally against Childhood Cancer week at Coppell High School. Everyone received an opportunity to participate in the letter writing campaign during his or her MAP class on Thursday.

                “Each class receives a specific amount of pre-coded letters for CHS asking for someone to donate,” Student council (STUCO) advisor Sunny Richardson said. “In MAP, students will have the option to fill out as many or as little letters as they want and send them to family or friends. In April, St. Jude will total the amount of money donated from Coppell and they’ll present us with a big check.”

                Throughout the week, STUCO handed out prizes for students who participated. Monday some students wore yellow to spread awareness that the rally had begun. Each student was also greeted at the entrances with a piece of candy and an information card about the week’s activities. On Tuesday students “banned caner” by wearing bandanas. Door prizes for participation were given away during all lunches including a signed Marcus Spears picture, a signed Tommy Hunter pennant and rally T-shirts.

                Students were permitted to wear slippers on Wednesday to promote “comfort for all children.” Thursday, students are allowed to wear hats. Letters will be written during MAP class and prizes will be given out to people with the most letters written.

 The class with the most letters will receive an off-campus lunch the following week. There is also a prize for the top producing female and male student and a drawing for any student who completes 25 letters, with the chance to win a Wii. All teachers with 100 percent participation in their classes will have their name entered in a drawing to win a two-night stay at Garden Inn Hilton.

                Friday students wore red to “red out cancer” and all winners will be announced.

In another effort to help raise money, STUCO students have taken on a bake sale that will be going on after school in the commons Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

                “Of all things that STUCO does, I believe that this rally is the most important,” senior STUCO president Marco Arce said. “This is helping people that really need it and I admire these people for living through cancer and their ability to keep going.”

                There will also be a book drop located at all the student entrances where students can deposit new books. These books will go to waiting rooms in hospitals or to site houses where families stay whose children need to be near the hospital. STUCO stresses that these books must be new because of the immunity issues involved with used books.

                ‘I’m excited about the fact that we can actually make a difference,” Arce said. “It’s not just helping one or two people; this is helping tons of children. It’s just an amazing opportunity for us to truly help people.

                Arce encourages students not to take the letters as a joke and to try to complete as many as possible.

                “I want to remind students that this could happen to anyone, anywhere,” Arce said. “People may not take it seriously now, but these could be your family and your friends someday. You never know who you might be helping.”

Junior Melissa Welty agrees with Arce.

“I tried to write letters to people I knew who would want to get involved,” Welty said. “Depending on who you ask, your involvement can make a huge difference.”