To Honor Mother, Student Organizes Race To Fight Breast Cancer

Editor’s note: The following story was submitted by Sarah Thompson, a student at Sequoyah High School.

Many people in today’s society can say that they are connected to someone that passed away from cancer.

Sequoyah High School senior Tyler Gentile has personally experienced the pain caused by a loved one being affected by cancer. Tyler’s mom passed away from the breast cancer that had affected her life for seven years.

To honor his mom’s memory, Tyler decided to host a 5K for his senior project this year. He plans to donate all proceeds to the American Cancer Society to be used for cancer research.

“I’m doing it because my mom passed away,” Tyler said.

A lot of planning went into the execution of Tyler’s 5K, Winning the Race Against Cancer. He had to put months of hard work into pulling off this type of event.

“The hardest part was finding the actual place,” Tyler said.

After a long search, Tyler talked to Greg Rikel, the recreation coordinator at First Baptist Church of Woodstock. It was decided that he would hold the 5K there at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 21.

When the location was set in place, the next step was to advertise the 5K and get registrations. Tyler set up a link online to handle the registration details (including the $20 registration fee), and then set to work on getting the word out into the community.

He used Twitter and Instagram to his advantage by posting about the 5K and encouraging his friends and family to sign up. He also made announcements to the youth at First Baptist Church of Woodstock about the event as well. He sent out interest emails to many people, including his friends on the cross country team at Sequoyah High School. He worked hard for months before the race trying to get more sign ups and more support for the fundraiser.

“It definitely helped with my organizational skills and patience,” Tyler said when discussing the benefits of his project. He believes his project was a worthy choice because he learned these skills for his future career.

Tyler had several people that were helpful for him throughout this project. Putting together his successful 5K couldn’t have been an individual effort, and his team helped him put it together. The 5K went extremely well and all the funds were donated as expected.

“My project facilitator, Coach James Adams, was a huge help to me,“ Tyler said. “I also have to thank [Ms.] Kelsey Macke; I couldn’t have done this without her.”

Photo credit: Patch file