White River Valley junior steps up to get her school involved

By Anna Rochelle WRV TEAM IN RELAY FOR LIFE: White River Valley Junior Kelsey Anderson and Student Council Sponsor Mary Puntney hold one of the shirts that will be worn by walkers in the 2008 Greene County Relay for Life event this weekend in the Bloomfield Park. Members of the WRV team include: (middle, from left) Ricky Anderson, Tesa Horsting, Jenny Nolting, Brittany Glosser, Kassandra Flick, Jaycie Gouckenour, Courtney French; and (back, from left) Samantha Riffel, Kristin Higgins, Amanda Mowery, Rachel Mowery, Seth Baker, Patrick Ford. David Weber is not pictured.

Anderson, a member of WRV's Student Council, said she always thought it was something her school should do.

"I think it's a worthy event and it would be good for our school to participate," said Anderson.

Through hard work and enthusiasm, Anderson has organized 15 students and one sponsor into WRV's first Relay for Life team of student walkers.

WRV High School Student Council Sponsor Mary Puntney has been helping Anderson with this project and with fundraising.

"Every year I ask students if they'd like to form a Relay team and every year, they say it's a good idea but then nobody wants to actually do it. This year, Kelsey said, 'Yes, I do. I really want to do that,' " said Puntney.

To attract team members, announcements were read over the school's loud speaker system but no students signed up so Anderson started talking to people individually.

"There was no reaction to the announcements, but when I asked them personally, they said yes," said Anderson.

Although some were just not interested, others were excited to participate in the Relay.

Puntney said Anderson's personal approach made a big difference and she got students to get online where they made the commitment to be on the team.

"We really didn't know much about the Relay for Life when we started this. After students started signing up, then we found out there's a $150 registration fee," said Puntney.

To raise the fee, class competitions were held and some money started trickling in. Then they sent an e-mail to all staff, teachers and employees of WRV and things started looking up.

One teacher from the WRV Worthington Elementary School offered to donate the $150 entry fee and others made pledges of support as well.

"By last weekend, we had $491.40, and we also have offers from people who want to donate water and snacks for the walkers," said Puntney.

The WRV team is a mixture of junior high and high school students, plus their sponsor, who have all received their shirts and are ready to walk.

When Greene County's annual Relay for Life event starts late Friday afternoon in the Bloomfield Town Park, Puntney will have a small tent set up on the site and several parents will be visiting and bringing supplies.

To coordinate the schedule, Anderson plans to stay on the site throughout the Relay which lasts until late Saturday afternoon.

"I'm scheduling team members to walk in 30-minute shifts and we'll walk two at a time," said Anderson.

The team plans to have someone walking throughout the entire Relay and if necessary, Anderson said she'll take whatever shifts nobody else wants.

Puntney said she is really proud of the WRV students that have decided to walk and she's especially proud of Anderson.

"Now that she's gotten us started, maybe WRV will have a team in the Relay every year," said Puntney.

The WRV Relay for Life team includes Kelsey Anderson, Ricky Anderson, Seth Baker, Patrick Ford, Courtney French, Brittany Glosser, Jaycie Gouckenour, Kristin Higgins, Tesa Horsting, Rachel Mowery, Samantha Riffel, Kassandra Flick, Amanda Mowery, Jen Nolting, David Weber, and Mary Puntney.