Panther Paws for a Cause

Pleasantville High School juniors Lily Anderman, Lola Mackanesi and Rowan Capko are trying to reach their goal of $50,000 raised for Leukemia Lymphoma Society's Student Visionaries of the Year program before their campaign ends on Friday.

“This team, Panther Paws for a Cause, is knocking it out of the park,” said Pleasantville High School Science Teacher Allison Steinberg. “The team has been relentless in its pursuit of Student Visionaries of the Year and the mission of curing blood cancer. To date, they have raised the most money of any previous team we have had representing PHS. We are lucky to have students like this in Pleasantville.”

Steinberg and fellow Science Teacher Stephanie Marra are the co-advisors for the high school community service club ECHO, Encouraging Students to Help Others and helped the students organize the seven week-long fundraiser.

“We reached out to people on social media and at community events and so many people responded,” said Lola Mackanesi. “This community has been amazing.”

“Our class was also really motivated because a boy in our grade had a kind of blood cancer,” said Lily Anderman. “Through him, we got to see first-hand how important this fundraiser is.”

The students also set up a popular soccer clinic for little kids, which helped bring them closer to their fundraising goal.

This is the fourth year that PHS has had a team run for Student Visionaries of the Year. Steinberg is the Leadership Chair for LLS for the region.

“Student Visionaries of the Year titles are awarded to the candidate teams who raise the most funds in their community during the 7-week competition,” the LLS website said. “With the goal of delivering the greatest mission impact possible, LLS is thrilled to celebrate our student visionaries for being leaders today, tomorrow and into the future.”

The campaign ends on Friday, March 10, 2023.