When I was a freshman at Cavelero I joined the Leadership class. I was really excited to take that class because I never really had to be in the classroom, instead I got to hang posters around the school and be active in the school. One day after the attendance was taken our teacher told us about a big project that we had to complete by the end of the year. The project name was Change the World.

Our task was to raise awareness about something in the world. Kayle, Raelene  and myself  decided to raise cancer awareness. We started out making posters and hanging them around school about statistics and ways to prevent cancer when our teacher told us that Kaitie Jacobs, another student at our school and a long time friend of mine, was active in this thing called Relay For Life. None of us knew what it was at the time but it sounded like fun so we decided to sign up on her team.

The event was in June and we all had a blast. When I was picked up from the event my dad asked me what Relay was. I told him that it was a way to raise money for the American Cancer Society for those affected by cancer and cancer research. My dad looked at me and asked me if he had ever told me that our family was affected by cancer. I looked at him and couldn’t believe what I heard. Apparently no one decided to tell me that my grandpa (his dad) is a survivor of prostate cancer and that my grandma (his mom) passed away from stomach cancer.

 I Relay today in my grandma’s honor and in hopes that my grandpa won’t have to go through another cancer treatment. I will Relay in the future to make sure there is awareness about this disease and to fight so no one will ever have to say goodbye to a loved one because of this disease ever again.

Jenny Gutierrez is a Senior at Lake Stevens High School. She is in her fourth year of Relay and is on the Entertainment committee. Her team this year is Gaga for the Cure. You can join Jenny in fighting for a cure, www.relayforlife.org/lakestevenswa