Many students claim they want to get more involved in campus activities. The truth is, a surprisingly small number of students do. They fall into a common trap: taking this once in a lifetime experience for granted.
As a graduate student here at Boston University I understand now that, come graduation day, life changes dramatically. The lifestyle of a carefree undergraduate quickly fades away and is replaced with more responsibility and less free time. Yes, I understand that being an undergraduate is not exactly “carefree” but, relatively speaking, it’s still a good time. With this change in lifestyle comes diminishing opportunities. Even in graduate school, a sort of limbo between college and a career, I’ve found that I don’t get to experience all those things that make college great. Over this past year though, I’ve decided to make the effort to become as active as I can as a student at BU. No, I can’t go back to being the undergraduate I once was, but there are some things I can still become a part of. That’s where Fight for Life comes in. This opportunity presented itself and, having this desire to help edify the university, I couldn’t pass it up.
Fight for Life, organized by Liz Russo and Jaron Friedman and the rest of the Project 100 crew, is an event designed to raise money for the American Cancer Society whose efforts will bring us closer to finding a way to fight cancer. It runs from noon to midnight on Saturday and will be filled with various forms of entertainment. Based on the society’s Relay for Life, the Project 100 version has been in the works since this past winter. Over the course of the semester the Project 100, a branch of the BU Student Union comprised of student volunteers, have worked diligently to make sure this event is a complete success.
Many goals have been set for this event. Most obvious is its role as a fund-raiser. Cancer is an epidemic that has most likely affected everyone on campus. Fight for Life is both a remembrance for those who have lost the battle to cancer and a celebration for survivors. Project 100 is counting on BU students to spare a little bit of their time and come on Saturday to the BU Beach where they can walk the Fight for Life course and make a donation toward this cause.
Apart from raising money, Fight for Life has a much more subtle function. A student body is defined by the individuals it comprises, the causes they believe in and what they do to advance those causes. Fight for Life is a campus-wide event, and Project 100 has done its best to ensure that this fund-raiser gets as many students involved as possible. Whether it be the live DJ, the multitude of Boston University performing groups, or appearances by various members of the BU sports community, Fight for Life promises to be as entertaining as it is beneficial to fighting cancer.
In addition, throughout the course of the day free food and drink will be provided to all participants. To lure even more people to the event, door prizes ranging from T-shirts to gift certificates to free airline passes will be given away over the course of the 12 hours. Clearly, this is not an event to be missed.
So, please do not wait until you’ve graduated to appreciate all the opportunities that college has to offer you. Take the initiative now and become part of Fight for Life. After spending the past four months helping to plan this event, I can appreciate the scope of Fight for Life and its landmark value. Project 100 hopes that we can spread the enthusiasm across the campus.
[ Dave Rubin is a graduate student in the College of Engineering. ]
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