Donor to Advocate

Student Visionaries of the Year

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) three-pillar mission to fund pioneering research, to provide patient care, and to advocate for systemic legislation changes resonates with me. This year, I and other high schoolers across the DC area worked in teams to raise funds and awareness for LLS’s mission. We all have one vision: a world without cancer.

I dove into my first fundraising campaign with excitement and trepidation. Fortunately, our team was paired with campaign manager Sam Roditti. With his contagious enthusiasm, Sam provided us with a campaign roadmap and patiently supported and encouraged us every step of the way. Our campaign started with setting up a personal fundraising webpage to reach friends and families as potential donors. We also created a list of possible corporate sponsors whose missions align with our core values, sending emails and making phone calls to solicit donations. We met with Sam weekly to discuss progress and resolve any problems we ran into. The highlight of my campaign was presenting to Dr. Christine Thayer, the CEO and founder of Thayer Clinical Psychology. In my speech, I shared with her how I was personally affected by cancer, how LLS became a big part of my family’s life, and the significant impact our campaign could make. As I progressed through my pitch, I ditched my script and went impromptu. The result was an astounding success. Dr. Thayer was deeply impressed with my presentation and generously contributed to our campaign goal.

With dogged determination and relentless resilience, our small team of four raised $25,000! It was an immense honor to be invited to the Grand Finale in Washington DC on March 2nd, 2024, where I met the other incredible student visionaries, campaign managers, and sponsors who were a critical part of this fight. I want to give a special thank-you to Sam for tirelessly working with our team and to Dr. Thayer and other donors for their generous contributions. Without them, we could not have done it.

At the grand finale, I was awestruck by the total of $1.9 million raised by the high school students of the Washington DC area this year. In a sudden epiphany, I realized that teenagers like me can actually effectuate meaningful social impact! I may be the youngest stem cell donor at Johns Hopkins, but the next title I want to conquer is someone who can impact many more people with my efforts. I encourage you to join the fight alongside me.