Tolland Intermediate School Helps Fight Cancer

To help “raise money for the bigger picture,” students at the Tolland Intermediate School have recently spent part of their recess walking or running laps for cancer.  

For the second year, students in the third through fifth grades participated in the , an event that works in conjunction with the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, which will be held in Tolland this weekend.

Mini Relay Coordinator Adrienne Ernest, the mother of a fourth grade student council member and a parent advisor for the council, said the effort is meant to involve children in “one of the biggest community events.”

“It’s great because kids love to go with their parents to the bigger event,” Christine Evans, a mini relay parent volunteer, said of the cancer society walk.

Last year, the Mini Relay for Life raised more than $800 to contribute to the Tolland Relay for Life.

Over three days – one last week and two this week – mini relay participants spend their recess walking laps around the playing field next to TIS. The participants are given a string at the beginning of their first lap, and for each lap completed the students earn a colored bead of their choice to keep track of walking distance.

Students that participate in the TIS Mini Relay for Life can also apply the number of completed laps to their Mileage club credits, which is a school program that promotes fitness during recess on a weekly basis. Separate from the Mini Relay for Life, for each lap a student completes on an average day in the Mileage Club, they get a punch in a card. For every card completed, the student earns a prize.

Ernest estimates that about 200 students are participated in the Mini Relay for Life this year.

“They’re so eager to participate because they’re part of the relay with their parents,” Evans said.

Tolland Intermediate School Principal Jim Dineen said he is very enthusiastic about the event.

“I think it’s phenomenal, a good way for kids to see ways to give back,” he said. “It’s good for them to recognize a way they can help others, and it builds a real sense of community.”

Students were encouraged to receive sponsorship in the Mini Relay for Life, but it was not mandatory. All money raised will be donated to the American Cancer Society sanctioned Tolland Relay for Life in one check from Tolland Intermediate School.

For more information on TIS Mini Relay for Life, contact Adrienne Ernest at Aernest@comcast.net, and don’t forget that the Tolland Relay for Life will be hosted this weekend at Tolland Middle School.