Relay for Life 2006
The end of an era

By Rachael Roberts
Herald Editor - For the past eight years, the junior class of the Galt High School (GHS) Health Careers Academy has spent its entire year planning and running the annual Relay for Life 24-hour marathon in support of the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Under the direction of GHS Health Academy Director Dave Simperman, who brought Relay for Life to Galt as a tribute to his father who had died from cancer, the GHS Relay has raised more than $300,000 to aid in research and the search for a cure for cancer over the past eight years.
Making history as one of only two student-run relays in the nation, GHS has been proud to present Relay for Life on the Galt High School track each year, making it bigger, better and more beneficial to ACS each year.
Relay 2006 was no different with 43 teams raising nearly $55,000 for cancer research; only this year there was something different. This would be the final year GHS students would run Relay for Life in Galt.
Simperman, who was recently diagnosed with cancer himself, made an emotional announcement at the closing ceremonies of Relay 2006 saying he would be stepping down as chair of the event and turning it over to the community to run and continue to make successful.
“With my health and the possibility that I will not be able to continue to chair the event and oversee the massive project, the American Cancer Society wants to make certain Relay in Galt stays alive and well,” said Simperman on Tuesday after the event. “That’s why they are looking for a community-based effort to keep Relay in Galt going.”
A community-wide event that packs the Warrior track and field, Relay for Life 2006 was its usual spirited and fun adventure complete with silly activities for each lap around the track, a hilarious ‘beauty’ pageant and a heart-wrenching luminaria ceremony dedicated in honor of survivors and in memory of those we have lost.
From senior citizens to toddlers, the turnout for Relay 2006 was representative of how many lives are touched by cancer.
“We came here to walk for my grandma, Betty,” said four-year-old Casey Welch, who came to Relay with a dozen other members of her family. “This way, if we walk today to help the people who have cancer, maybe no other little kids will have to lose their grandma Betty.”
For the Ferreira family, Relay for Life is a celebration of their family and a chance to honor a lost son, brother and friend, Armando Ferreira, and to honor Armando’s sister, Maribel, who survived her fight with lymphoma and is now expecting a child.
Team Nova ’65, so named for the love Armando had for a 1965 Chevy Nova he was restoring when he died at only 23, raised more than $4,000 for Relay in 2005 and hopes to have exceeded that goal in 2006.
Armando’s mother, Celina, said the event is uplifting each year because she gets to see how much her son touched so many in his short life.
“He was a very strong young man who never complained, even for as young as he was. He lived life to the fullest,” said Celina. “I miss him very much.”
Galt City Councilman Tom Malson, a seasoned Relay veteran, spoke at opening ceremonies saying, “The reason we are here today is because we are at war with this disease, and this event is one of many logistical battles we fight to obtain the funding in order to continue this war … that we will win.”
The young organizers of Relay 2006 said on Tuesday after the event that the whole event was eye-opening for many reasons, from connections to cancer victims to learning a sense of responsibility and obligation to see a big event all the way through.
“I joined this class to do Relay for Life,” said Adriana Renteria, who worked in honor of a fifth grade classmate, Cynthia Roa, who died from cancer. “I saw how hard she had to try just to have a normal life. She has been my motivation.”
For Casey Hoover, what started out as fun and then turned into the hardest thing she has ever done, the actual event on Saturday was especially rewarding.
“This was really hard and I was so stressed out by the time it got here,” said Hoover. “But when I got out there and saw all the people, met the survivors and saw how everyone was so touched by cancer, I got tears in my eyes many times and I thought, this is very cool and it was so worth it.”
As a team, the thought of turning the Relay over to the community is scary. Almost in unison, the group expressed concerns for the continued well-being of the event and a desire to hold onto it as a special part of campus life at GHS.
“We want to see it continue. We have a lot of pride in Relay, and we don’t want to see it end.”
If you are interested in supporting Relay for Life 2007, it’s not too early to call. Contact Simperman at (209) 745-3081, ext. 3268, and help make sure that Galt remains a strong warrior in the fight against cancer.

Paid for by:  Committee 1246762
Last updated on 25-November-2006