Colleges Against Cancer, Gustavus’ on campus cancer awareness group, held their biggest yearly event, Relay For Life, from Friday, April 11 to Saturday, April 12 this year. The group increased fundraising totals by almost $10,000, from last year’s $36,000 to over $45,000 this year.  The event’s 510 Gustavus participants worked in teams to walk from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. with the overall goal to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

The event opened with a Celebration Ceremony featuring speakers Sophomore Mandy Schlauderaff and Advisor Ann Volk and an introduction from the Co-Presidents of Colleges Against Cancer, Senior Hallee Adamsheck and Senior Abby Schnorr.

9 p.m. marked the Remember Luminary Ceremony, in which participants placed  glow sticks in each participant-decorated luminary bag that lined the walking path. The luminaries displayed names of lost friends and family members as well as cancer survivors. The ceremony concluded with an emotional slideshow featuring participant-submitted slides with pictures and tributes to loved ones.

Participant and First-Year Jenna Muntifering expressed her thankfulness for the opportunity to participate in the event.

“I believe that it is a really important thing to do, it’s important for us to all come together and support this cause. You can sacrifice a little sleep for a good cause,” Muntifering said.

The night-long event also featured various events and activities to keep the participants entertained and awake. Some of the highlights included the infamous Chuck Norris challenge, in which students compete to consume the entire 8-pound Chuck Norris burger from Patrick’s. This popular challenge alone raised around $900, although none of the participants were able to successfully finish the burger. 4 a.m.  Zumba and ice cream made by the Chemistry Club were also student favorites.

Adamsheck said that although the group had great success in 2013 in raising participation numbers, they saw a greater increase of fundraising correlating with this year’s increase in participation.

“What we added or improved this year that we are the most proud of is our fundraising total, because last year we did a really good job increasing our number of participants, we increased it by 40 percent, there was 336 two years ago and last year there was 560, so we increased our participation a lot last year, but our fundraising totals didn’t reflect that as much, and then this year our fundraising totals went up a lot and we broke our goal of $40,000 before Relay even started and we are at $45,869 right now,” Adamsheck said.

Adamsheck also expressed the importance of creativity when it comes to fundraising.

“I think one challenge with Relays on a college campus, no matter where it is just that it is on college campus, and you are going to struggle with fundraising no matter what because college kids don’t have a ton of money, so you have to get creative with how you fundraise,” Adamsheck said.

Creative fundraising events included a “Water Pong” tournament with an entry fee and “Bosom Buddies” with Delta Phi Omega, a bra decorating competition where the winner was decided by monetary votes.

The top team fundraiser was the Gustavus Tennis Team, raising a whopping $13,681.

Schnorr stated that Gustavus Tennis makes Relay for Life one of their main volunteer projects. “Every year the tennis team does so much for us, and they raised over $12,000 this year and every year they are such a big support for us and we are really appreciative for all the money they bring in,” Schnorr said.

The top personal participants included both co-presidents, Adamsheck with $3,125 and Schnorr with $860. Senior Laura Isdahl came in third with $725.

First-Year Claire Goblrisch, who has been ‘relaying’ for the majority of her life, said that she loves seeing all of the groups on campus come together.

“I like that everyone is really there as a community,” Goblrisch said.

Schnorr said that she would love to see the Gustavus community continue to move towards and beyond the existing $53,000 Gustavus Relay record.

“We are so passionate and we work so hard and it is awesome to see it reflected in the people that go. I think it’s one thing that we kind of forget as we plan is that the event actually happens and everyone is affected by cancer, so it is so cool to see everyone come together to fight for one cause,” Schnorr said.