‘The good keeps going’

More than 500 members of the Seneca High student body, faculty, alumni and family members gathered for a relay in the last days of the school year to support lives affected by cancer. 

Student council hosted the Relay for Life event on June 5 at the school’s football stadium, as well as a school-wide hair donation ceremony. 

Relay for Life is a national movement established in 1985 through the American Cancer Society (ACS) that raises money for the organization’s work and research while celebrating survivors and those lost to cancer. Seneca raised more than $51,447 for ACS through fundraising and donations prior to, during, and after the relay.

For six consecutive hours at the event, participants were required to walk along the track at all times to signify how cancer never rests and is always present. Some relays have been known to last between 12 and 24 hours.

“Like everyone else, our school has had students and faculty impacted by cancer.” said Beth Anne Strittmatter, one of the student council’s advisors and an English teacher. She was also part of Seneca’s Relay for Life events in 2012 and 2018, the last time the school had one.

“We’ve lost some people,” she added, “but we’ve also had some survivors. So I think it had a lot of meaning for our Seneca family.”

Strittmatter said student council decided to host a Relay for Life as its largest service initiative last summer. The students were eager to select a cause that impacts so many people within their own community.

The relay was part of the Seneca Serves initiative, where students strive to make positive impacts on nearby communities through service, leadership and compassion during the school year.

“Being involved with Relay for Life was powerful to me (and) to have all of the Seneca family working toward a shared purpose,” observed junior and incoming student council president Riley Bauer.

Bauer worked with senior and current president Shane McClelland to develop and promote the relay, and spoke at the kickoff assembly and informational sessions earlier in the year. 

Seneca survivors were invited to speak at the start of the relay.

Alum Julie Kramer, math teacher Nikki Wiesen and guidance counselor Greg Bauer all spoke of their journeys with cancer before stepoff. Kramer, a three-time synovial sarcoma survivor, led the walk with McClelland, and they held a banner together. 

One of the most moving parts of the night was the Luminaria ceremony, when candle-lit bags were lined along the track to honor those who’ve been affected by cancer. English teacher Matt Carr spoke about his sister, Seneca alum Megan Carr, who died of cancer two years ago. 

“We’ve watched members of our Seneca family, students and teachers disappear for months while battling some form of cancer,” noted English teacher Julie Smith. “Some have come back and marched or cheered on Seneca’s efforts … Others were only there in memory.

“These students and this school remind us that we can all do something – that we must do something.” 

The hair donation involved 32 members of the school community: students, staff, even children. They offered more than 21 feet of clipped hair to benefit Children with Hair Loss and its mission of providing wigs and hair pieces for sick kids.

The haircuts also kicked off the evening Relay for Life. 

“My 6-year-old daughter and I each donated eight inches of hair,” Smith said. “When I told her I was donating hair to help kids who lost theirs to illness, she wanted to help, too.

“The best part of it is that events like this don’t end when the ceremony is over,” she added. “At her (daughter’s) grade school this week, a classmate’s mom told me her daughter wants to get her hair cut and donate it like (my daughter) did.

“The good keeps going.”