Students at Jackson Technology Center recently organized a fundraiser, the Let’s Beat Cancer Dance, to benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation and Camp Esperanza, a camp for kids with cancer.
They chose the National Breast Cancer Foundation in honor of Jami Maxey, a counselor at the school who had recently battled breast cancer and the mother of seventh-grader, Rachael, who lost her life to the disease a few years ago. They chose the camp in honor of eighth-grader Kelsie who battled cancer and attended the camp two years ago.
Kelsie benefitted from Camp Esperanza and was glad to be helping raise money for the organization.
“At the time when I had cancer, I didn’t have anyone to talk to who knew how I felt,” Kelsie said. “When I went to the camp, I found people I could relate to and talk about it with.”
Rachael’s late mother is the inspiration behind her desire to give back and help others.
“When she was suffering through cancer, all she could talk about was giving to everyone else and I think she’s the main reason I do all this,” Rachael said. “Even when she was suffering she made everyone smile even when she was having a bad day.”
Rachael shared a quote that everyone would do well to live by:
“This is only a chapter in the book. All you have to do is turn the page. Don’t close the book.” source unknown
Teacher Miguel Carzola pitched the idea of the fundraiser to some of his students and they took it and ran with it.
“It just snowballed,” he said. “I tried to get out of the kids’ way and let them do this.”
In six weeks, they had planned a dance, collected prizes for a raffle, gathered concessions to sell and arranged for the PTA to provide pizza. Everything was donated so that all the money raised could go to the charities.
Principal David Dunphy said that he and the staff want the students to learn the importance of giving back.
“One of the things we try to teach them is that it’s not just about math and reading and writing,” he said. “It’s also about giving back to your community and helping others. We hope we are teaching them a life lesson.”
He added that the students are wonderful and caring and compassionate.
“This is one of the many things they’ve done this year,” he said. “They’ve also had a canned food drive and a shoe drive and collected for March of Dimes. This is a school that gives.”
Additionally, the students raised $1,260 last year for a student that was diagnosed with bone cancer.
Dunphy praised the school’s staff and said that he feels blessed to be the principal at Jackson.