As much as you may hate Bright Eyes, you can hardly argue with the title of one of his most melodramatic songs ever: A Line Allows Progress; a Circle Does Not. At least, that’s usually true. One of the few exceptions made an appearance on campus Friday evening into night, and Saturday morning. It’s called Relay for Life.
The basic premise is that students form teams and raise money for a walk-a-thon which involves students walking in tag-team around the perimeter of Tempel Green. The sponsorship accrued by the walkers, as well as the proceeds from various vendors and raffles throughout the night, went to the American Cancer Society.
Despite the chill of Friday’s rainy evening weather, 44 registered teams walked. The top fundraising team, IS Camel Crusaders, gathered $5,760 for the cause. The money will go toward prevention awareness and research.
In service of the fundraising efforts, performers from on and off campus filled the main tent with music and laughter throughout the whole event. One of Conn’s two improv comedy groups, N2O, gave a half-hour set of their suggestion-based improv games at midnight.
“We like doing benefits and smaller venues,” said freshman Quinn Menchetti, a member of N2O. “They asked us, and we were like, ‘hey, that’s a good cause.’ Cancer’s really lame. Let’s be practical: what’s going to get rid of cancer quick? Money. And that’s what Relay for Life is doing.”
The crowd that gathered in the tent, taking refuge from the deluge, was a mix of students, community members, and faculty, both walkers and supporters.
“It seemed like there were a lot of people there who just came down to see what Relay for Life was,” said sophomore Pete Konowski, who performed with his pop-rock band You’re So Hip! as well as the a cappella group Vox Cameli. “People seemed pretty happy about it despite the fact that it was miserable and cold.”
Since the walkers had elected to spend the night on the green, the events programming helped them stay engaged and gave them something to do in their off time from walking the trail.
In addition to performances and entertainment, Relay for Life also featured speakers who shared testimony about their own experiences with cancer as survivors and as supporters of those diagnosed. The oscillation of emotions between laughter and silence, or dancing and crying, gave the tent a mixed atmosphere.
“No one wants to be reminded of cancer,” said freshman Cecilia Brown, who walked on a team called Dancing and Healing. “One minute you’re having fun and listening to music, and the next, you’re having a moment of silence. It’s hard to make a cancer walk into something fun for college students on a Friday night. But I guess there’s no other way to do it.”
Despite the incongruity of somber reflection and revelry, the event planners successfully brought in large numbers of students and supporters, and many of those in attendance gave money to the cause.
“It was really nice to see a lot of people getting active at Conn,” added Konowski. “People actually wanted to get involved the best they could. It’s a nice passing away of apathy – for just a split second.”
