Relay for Life: It’s Not About the Competition

​By Grace Deng

As Shanghai American School’s National Honor Society prepares to host its eighth annual Relay for Life, students are rapidly accumulating money from sponsors and bake sales to donate to cancer research. On October 11th, students participating will walk or run laps around the school track during a 24 hour period in order to show solidarity to those who are suffering from cancer.

“Although I prioritize my academics,” says Alex Wu, a junior, “baking for Relay is a time for me to relax and think about other things.” Pausing, he joked that “it also makes me fat because I taste test my cookies!”

Competition for donations has been increasing in the past few days. There was recently a complication with a group who had connections to Yoba, the popular frozen yogurt company. The group organized their sale on the day of the sale. Although SAS usually only allows two Relay groups to sell products and goods on one day, Yoba, as an external company, is able to bring in an extra table by itself. As a result, three groups were selling goods at the same time, drastically increasing competition between the three groups.

SAS’ National Honor Society has also been hosting competitions to win points, which will be tallied up in order to decide the winner of this year’s Relay for Life. This Friday’s competition is a skittle eating competition, where the competitors must eat 10 skittles in 30 seconds with chopsticks. Last Tuesday, an Oreo eating competition was held, with the winner walking away with 10 points.

Although the fundraising side of Relay for Life will always be a source of competition and contention among students, the basic goal of Relay remains the same.

“Relay for Life is about raising awareness for cancer research. It not only fosters teamwork, but it builds empathy for cancer patients and survivors,” says Kristen Fu, a junior. “The competition isn’t important. It’s about honoring those affected by cancer.”