The Students Against Cancer GOAL program held the first annual “Students Against Cancer Dance-a-thon” in the Knorr Family Dining Room on March 30. SAC student coordinator, junior Amelia Kerton, said the event drew more than 90 people and raised more than $600 for a local cancer care center.
All proceeds from the Dance-a-thon will be donated to the Hillsdale Community Health Center’s Infusion and Chemo/Hematology Center. The center provides an out-patient service for chemotherapy patients, in addition to other services.
The infusion center, junior Nathan Knapp said, will use the donated money to purchase blankets and “cuddly things” for chemo patients.
Kerton said she created the event to bring students together to fight cancer, regardless of their feelings toward the American Cancer Society.
In the past, the only cancer-fighting events under SAC on campus were tied to the Relay for Life. The GOAL program reinvented itself last semester in response to student criticisms of the ACS.
“[The Dance-a-thon] started so that people who don’t support the ACS can support something they don’t really oppose,” Kerton said.
In 2010, Student Federation denied funding for Hillsdale’s Relay for Life event after concerns were raised regarding the ACS, Relay for Life’s umbrella organization, and its connections to Planned Parenthood and hospitals that provide abortion services.
Last fall, GOAL began funding Relay for Life. To encompass changes and additions within the program GOAL changed Relay for Life’s name to “Cancer Support Program.”
To avoid sounding like they were actually supporting the disease, program leader’s decided to again change their name, to “Students Against Cancer.”
As part of the changes to the reinvented program, a second focus was added to the SAC’s mission: local cancer support.
Freshman Tessa Betz, a committee member of SAC, said members of the program were thrilled to fight cancer on a local level and give back to the Hillsdale community.
“It just helps bond the college students to the area which is something that hasn’t happened in the past,” Betz said.
Junior Jacob Nieuwsma, a member of the 2010 federation and critic of the ACS, said he fully supports the GOAL program’s local funding efforts.
“For an event that the Students Against Cancer GOAL program supports,” Nieuwsma said, “I’m glad it serves that end – that it’s against cancer.”
Attendees said that most of the students who attended the Dance-a-thon had been to other Relay for Life events.
Organizers said attendance of the event was reduced by several factors: the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority held an initiation event that night, the Sigma Alpha Iota music fraternity held their spring concert, and the baseball team was traveling.
Overall, Kerton said that, for the event’s first year, the turnout was very good.
Betz said the spring event is a “great opportunity for those who have problem with the funding” and hopes it will build support from the students who don’t support ACS in future.
“We hope next year will be bigger and better,” freshman Kasie Marie said. “It raises money for a great cause.”