Students who plan to participate in next semester's Relay for Life put on their party hats and got pumped up for the all-night event.
Next year marks the 25th anniversary of the American Cancer Society Relay for Life, and Texas Tech Relay for Life hosted a rally for its seventh annual relay Tuesday night at the Student Union Building.
Tech was the first university in the Big 12 Conference to have its own relay, said Event Chair Rachel Verbout, a senior accounting major from Victoria. Because of this, it should be able to raise the most money.
The 2009 spring semester goal is $150,000, an increase from last spring's $123,000 goal, she said.
"It's always good to put a goal with everything," Verbout said. "And that is a lot of money coming from college students."
Colleges Against Cancer, the Tech student organization coordinating the relay, is dedicated to helping cancer survivors and supporting cancer research through participation and donations, she said.
Relay for Life is a community event, she said, because cancer is a disease that affects many lives.
"We all have families hit by cancer," Verbout said. "It's something we all face and something we can all rally around."
Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society are dedicated to eliminating the disease through research, education and national and local service, Verbout said. These efforts are made in honor of cancer survivors, patients and caregivers.
To add inspiration to the rally attendees one cancer survivor shared her story.
The senior human development and family studies major from White House, Rosemary Novak, said, "cancer changed her whole life."
During her senior year of high school, Novak was diagnosed with melanoma - a type of skin cancer.
At the age of 16, she said, she had to miss many school days to visit Houston and Virginia for cancer treatments.
Despite the struggles she endured years ago, Novak said she turned her experience toward educational purposes by teaching lifeguards and children about proper sunscreen use.
With her personal experiences, she said she wanted to become more involved with Relay for Life by joining the planning committee and the survivorship committee.
"I am empathetic to (survivors)," Novak said. "I have a side that someone else doesn't have."
The relay provides support for cancer survivors and people affected by the disease, she said, and "we want them to know that they have our support, 100 percent."
The events - such as walking, running and awarding prizes - will take place all night, she said. The more people that participate, the more fun it will be.
For one student organization, participating in Relay for Life is an opportunity for Tech students to show their support.
Beth Doty, a junior restaurant, hotel and institutional management major from Richardson and member of Eta Sigma Delta, said the event is an opportunity for her fraternity - an international hospitality management honor society at Tech - to show that it cares about "what's going on around the world."
Doty said she attended the event last year, and "everyone was in good spirits and positive."
"I have had many friends and family members who have had cancer," she said. "Not just one person is affected, everyone is."
Tech's Relay for Life is scheduled for March 28, 2009 at the R.P. Fuller Track Stadium.
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