Students Aim to Raise $35,000 for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
By Denise Gawlik
BBH Sophomores Bridget Buter, Kate Butler and Ella DeTray have one simple goal this winter: raising $35,000 for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society in just seven short weeks.
Butler, Butler and DeTray are leading a team of 17 classmates in this year’s LLS’s Students of the Year campaign. The campaign is a national program that gives students the opportunity to compete against teams from other area high schools to raise the most money towards blood cancer research.
The LLS has advanced more than 85% of the approved blood cancer treatments since 2017 and has led the way for survival rates of blood cancers to quadruple since it was founded in the 1940s.
In 2021, the greater Cleveland Students of the Year campaign raised $960,393 for LLS.
As leaders of Team Telescope, Butler, Butler and DeTray are excited to both support an important organization and for the opportunity to develop the leadership skills that participating in this program will present to them.
Kate Butler noted that they are happy to support LLS because “the work done by LLS goes far beyond blood cancer research by also placing a huge focus on patient support and the overall quality of life for patients and their families.”
“This passion for giving patients the best care in the long-term made LLS an organization we wanted to support,” she said.
Bridget Butler and Ella DeTray said they welcomed the opportunity to be able to “lead such an important project as high school students.”
“There are few organizations that place so much trust in youth and Students of the Year allows them to lead a team of peers and make all decisions regarding our campaign with little restriction,” DeTray said. This freedom has allowed us to learn so much about leadership, communication, management and running a successful team.”
Bridget Butler added, “We feel beyond lucky just to be able to take part, and we can’t wait to see how successful we can be.”
The 2022 Students of the Year campaign starts on Jan. 29 and runs through March 19. Team Telescope is planning a variety of events to achieve their $35,000 goal.
More information and a link to donate can be found on their Instagram and Facebook pages @llsteamtelescope or visit https://events.lls.org/noh/nohsoy22/ttelescope starting Jan. 29. ∞