BURSTOkanagan Mission Secondary (OKM) students have made history by hosting the largest fundraiser ever completed by a public school in British Columbia.
The Relay for Life at the Kelowna high school raised more than $100,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society, crushing their $70,000 goal while also raising awareness around the importance of cancer research.
Grade 12 student and event chair, London McDougall, spent months organizing the event with other leadership classmates, even inviting other schools from across the district to help reach their goal.
“We’ve had the most participants and the most fundraising we’ve ever had with over 400 students and more than $100,000 fundraised for cancer research,” said McDougall.
“It’s a really great community of people. We have students from OKM, KSS, RSS and MBSS this year… When we come together as a community, there’s no such thing as school rivalries… We are unstoppable.”
The Relay for Life at OKM has grown from a small idea into an annual must-see event, becoming the school’s biggest and most anticipated fundraiser, where students form teams and come up with different ways to raise money, including car washes, bottle drives, and more.
Leadership teacher Kirsten Mulleny tells Black Press Media that student demand for the Leadership Excellence course has grown significantly, with students eagerly asking about the event and how they can get involved.
“Over the past few years, this event has just built upon the legacy of past grads,” said Mulleny on Wednesday.
“…Their passion for giving back, and the realization when the event actually happens, and they get to see how much money they’ve raised and what they’ve done, that’s why everyone is on cloud nine right now.”
Mulleny says the annual event teaches students skills, including how to manage others, business techniques, sponsorship deals, social media marketing and more.
“The biggest thing is what they can do when they leave school, and they graduate. They can do things like this and give back to their community,” explained Mulleny.
The months-long fundraiser wrapped up in the schoolyard at OKM with a continuous group run around the field, where teams took turns running the circuit from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m.
They were joined by the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life specialist, Juliet Krilanovich, who was blown away by the success of OKM’s fundraiser.
“It used to be that one in two Canadians would be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lifetime. The number is now two in five, so it’s gotten better,” said Krilanovich.
“And honestly, that is due to all of our signature programs like the Relay for Life… that have really brought together not only the community, but the funds as well to change that statistic.”
The previous record for the largest high school fundraiser in B.C. was held by a Penticton School that raised $83,000 through another Relay for Life campaign.
Students at OKM also enjoyed food trucks, a colour run, a slip-and-slide, and other fun physical activities before closing out this year’s record-breaking fundraiser.