Colleges Against Cancer hopes to raise cancer awareness at first “Rock Out for a Cure” event

UCLA’s Colleges Against Cancer club hopes to strike chords among Bruins through a night of emotive music and speakers with UCLA’s first ever “Rock Out for a Cure.”

According to Sarena Young, a second-year international development studies student, “Rock Out for a Cure” aims to cultivate interest and involvement for Relay for Life, an annual fundraiser for cancer research and patient programs.

Young works on the planning committee for “Rock Out for a Cure” and said that, ultimately, the group’s goal is to promote cancer awareness.

“Especially on college campuses, people think cancer is this removed issue,” Young said. “But it’s surprising how, at one point or another, this is a cause that will touch the majority of us.”

The event will center around four UCLA student performances, including Medleys a Cappella, past Spring Sing winner DJ Harper and two bands, Free Food and The Ten Thousand.

According to third-year ethnomusicology student and Free Food member Oliver Brown, the band’s involvement in the event reflects invested feelings to support the cancer cause.

“Hip-hop music really has a voice, especially on college campuses. (Cancer) is definitely prevalent. … And the best way to combat that is with an approach towards a cure,” Brown said.

The motivation for the night, Relay for Life, has been a long-standing event not only at UCLA but also across the globe. The fundraiser typically lasts 24 hours, and participants stay overnight to take turns in teams walking around a track. Besides the relay, other activities on the field are incorporated into the event, such as sports games, game booths and performances.

Jessica Altshuler, a fourth-year mathematics/economics student, said that, although Relay for Life is not new to UCLA, this year marks the birth of “Rock Out for a Cure.”

“We’re hoping that it’ll become a new tradition to have “˜Rock Out for a Cure’ during winter quarter and Relay for Life in the spring,” Altshuler said.

The goal of Relay for Life is to bring community together in efforts to combat cancer’s effects. UCLA’s Colleges Against Cancer club, one of the top clubs in the country according to Young, has raised $800,000 with eight relays here on campus in the past.

UCLA’s next Relay for Life occurs on May 12 with a decades-related theme called “Through the Ages.” According to Young, this year’s goal is to hit $1,000,000 as she hopes “Rock Out for a Cure” will get more of the UCLA community invested in this vision.

Fundraising not only goes toward cancer research efforts but also to patient programs such as “Road to Recovery,” a system separate from Relay for Life that provides transportation to cancer patients without other means of getting around.

Along with the live entertainment, the night will also include cancer education activities, a raffle and related games. Information tables from student clubs such as Bruins Fighting Pediatric Cancer will help give the UCLA community insight to the struggles of cancer.

Those who attend will also have the chance to light candles within paper bags, called Luminaria bags, in honor of those who have been affected by cancer. Child and adult survivors will speak of their cancer experiences to inspire the crowd to help take action as well.

“The Relay for Life tagline for American Cancer Society sums it up: “˜to celebrate, to remember and to fight back,'” Altshuler said.

Even though Altshuler has never been directly affected by cancer, she said she knows of the intense struggles cancer presents through her peers’ experiences. According to Altshuler, cancer awareness is a cause almost anyone can feel drawn to, simply out of support for those who have encountered the illness.

“Fighting back is the hopeful part of it all; we’re raising funds for research, we’re creating more awareness and we’re educating people,” Altshuler said.