Many of you may have been wondering what Relay For Life is and if you should do it. Some of you have seen the posters on the wall, heard about it from your friends, or have actually participated in one.

Like most of you, junior Michael Jones learned about Relay For Life through the posters on the wall and from his friends.

“The school advertised [Relay For Life] it and my ‘amigos’ were doing it, so I thought I would too.” Jones said.

He went with his friends his freshmen year and had a lot of fun. He said, however, that it was a very long night and that he had to put in a lot of work.

“I got to a point where I didn’t even want to be there any more,” Jones said, but continued in saying that it was definitely worth it and that he would like to go again.

Relay For Life has been going on for many years and has continuously raised thousands of dollars each year after the event.

“The purpose [of Relay For Life] is to raise both money and awareness for cancer,” Blue Valley graduate Jessica Park said. “It gets both high schoolers and teachers involved and it helps raise awareness for this universal issue.” Relay For Life does many events throughout the night like Disney fashion shows, karaoke, and all-you-can-eat buffets with all of the proceeds going toward cancer.

Many of the participants who go have had cancer themselves or have had a family member or friend go through it.

“My great grandpa was affected by cancer and so was my other grandpa,” Park said. “I think one of them had pancreatic cancer. One passed away due to it [cancer], but the other was able to survive.”

All in all, those who have participated in Relay For Life have said it was a great experience and that they are looking forward to doing it again.

“It was a really fun time to hang out with friends and raise money for cancer,” Jones said.