Today: Nov 11, 2024

Q&A with Colleges Against Cancer President Nicole Cassidy

Ryan Morgan
News Editor

Photo courtesy facebook.com
(Q) As an organization, what is Colleges Against Cancer doing this semester?

(N.C.) The biggest thing we’re doing is Relay for Life May 7-8, but we have other events that relate to it like our kickoff on March 7 and our bank night, which we don’t have a date for, but will probably be the week before Relay.

(Q) What is your goal as president?

(N.C.) My personal goal is for Relay to be incredibly successful. I’d like to raise to more money than last year. Last year, we raised in the ballpark of $40,000 or a little under. If we can get into that range again I’d be happy, but I’d like it to be higher.

(Q) What are your plans to make that goal?

(N.C.) We want to create a lot of teams and encourage people to fundraise. We have a new advisor on board, Dr. Sandra Bulmer from the public health department, so hopefully she can help us recruit faculty and get more people involved than ever before. She’s been great and is always available for us. Last year she participated and was on one of the teams who raised the most money, so we asked her to come on board with us. She is willing to put in the time.

(Q) How are you working with members to ensure success?

(N.C.) We have subcommittees for Relay, for example luminaria or survivor committees. All of our members will sit on a subcommittee and work on that. For example, our entertainment committee is having a fundraiser to help make us more successful.

(Q) What are they doing?

(N.C.) They’re having the fundraiser at Joker’s Wild [New Haven Comedy Club] on Feb. 10 and they’ll be selling tickets. Part of the proceeds will go towards entertainment for Relay.

(Q) What is different than last year?

(N.C.) I guess the biggest difference is just new members and new people. Our vice president and president stepped down and this is my first year as president. We’ve had a lot of new and interested members and still have some of our old members so we’ve been kind of meshing the old with the new. We’ve been doing different activities. Stefen Keller, our vice president, has been holding events every week to get members to come. They’re social events, but service-orientated.

(Q) Have you made any big changes, positive or negative?

(N.C.) One of the big changes is we tried to do more in the fall semester because Relay takes up so much time in the spring. We used to only meet biweekly, but this past fall semester we met every week. We volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House every week and did a community service social every week. We also volunteered at Lyman Orchards to make more money. We really wanted to do things in the fall related to CAC’s mission.

(Q) What do you expect to be your greatest challenge this semester and how will you overcome it?

(N.C.) Our greatest challenge will be to make sure everyone is involved and make sure they’re playing an active role. We want everyone to feel like they have a part in Relay whether it’s in charge of selling luminarias or putting together the slide show. We want everyone to take some part and call it their own even if it’s just volunteering time.

(Q) Thus far, what has been your proudest moment with CAC?

(N.C.) My most memorable moment was probably this past semester’s homecoming parade. We came in first or second for clubs and organizations. It was nice to see members come out and show their support for our organization.

(Q) Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about CAC this semester?

(N.C.) We’re really looking forward to Relay and would like to see as many people take part as possible. It is not just for the Southern community, we want to open it up to the New Haven community as well, and see a lot of faces out there that day.

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