For the fourth consecutive year, Ojai Valley School students and teachers will participate in the Relay for Life — except this time the OVS team will stay in Ojai rather than venture to Ventura.
In the previous three years, the OVS team had supported the cancer-fighting campaign at Buena High School in Ventura, but this year students and teachers decided to stay local and throw their support behind the June 1 event scheduled for Nordhoff High School in Ojai.
The Ojai venue will make it easier for more OVS students to take part in Relay for Life, and it will allow the Upper Campus Student Council to collaborate with the Student Council at the Lower Campus to generate more buzz and thus more backing for the cause.
“We had talked for a couple of years about going to the Ojai event rather than Ventura,” said OVS Student Council co-advisor Fred Alvarez. “Of course raising money for cancer is good in any location, but we wanted to become part of the Ojai community.”
Relay for Life is a nationwide event launched in 1985 by the American Cancer Society to bring communities together that have been touched by the tragedy of cancer.
Each year, more than 3.5 million people in 5,000 communities in the United States – along with additional communities in 20 other countries – come together to remember those who have succumbed to the illness and to honor those who have beaten back the disease.
The fundraising goal for the OVS team is a modest $1,000, although Mr. Alvarez said he expects students and teachers to raise much more.
As a start, all student council members at the Upper Campus have pledged to join the OVS team.
“Relay for life is incredibly important because we have been personally effected by cancer,” said senior Aria Ellett who serves as the public relations representative for student council. “It shows that this disease is still here, and that is still prevalent in our society.”
Click here to join the OVS team or to learn more about the event.