Zach Clay - Running for LLS Student of the Year

Jami Sanders
  
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding research, finding cures, and ensuring access to treatments for blood cancer patients.Since 1949 LLS has been on the forefront of blood cancer advances such as chemotherapies and stem cell transplantation leading the way to the targeted therapies and immunotherapies that are saving thousands of lives today.

Calvary Day School Junior Zach Clay will be competing in the 2018 Students of the Year competition. The Students of the Year is a fundraising competition which generates funding for LLS here in Coastal Georgia. Over the course of seven weeks, from February 1 until March 23, Zach and his team, Cavs for a Cure, will work to generate money in a number of ways. They will host dress down days on campus, ask for sponsorship, pass the hat at baseball games, and Zach will make personal asks to his family and friends.

The LLS's Students of the Year is an exciting leadership development and philanthropy program in which high school students participate in a fundraising competition to benefit LLS. As a motivated high school student, Zach hopes this program will ensure he stands out among his peers when engaging with colleges and will prepare him for a military career. Through guidance and mentoring from experienced professionals he wants to make a real impact in the fight against blood cancers.

Zach has many goals for this competition including raise ten thousand dollars, learning new skills, and increasing awareness about leukemia and lymphoma. “I didn't know much about these forms of blood cancer before this opportunity, so I hope I can inform our students here on campus,” Zach said. To help Zach achieve his goal, visit: cavsforacure.com/zclay
Zach is learning new business skills such as how to brand and sell himself, write a fundraising letter, as well as how to be an effective public speaker. He credits Calvary in helping prepare him for this opportunity throughout his English courses. “We have had to present in front of the class since middle school, and writing is something we do every day,” Zach said. While he is nervous about speaking to the entire student body on February 20th, he knows this is a skill set he will need to master for his future.

Not only is Zach active during school, engaging in a rigorous academic schedule, but he can also be found on a baseball field after school with the Cavalier varsity team. Zach is also a member of the National Honor Society.

There are many words that could describe Zach, but the one word that suits him best is dedicated. Zach has set goals for his future such as graduating from Calvary, getting an ROTC scholarship, and then later becoming a first officer in the Army. With these future goals, he plans on achieving them through hard work and serving, the same way that he plans to compete in the LLS Students of the Year competition. Zach knows that this competition will be a challenge but one he hopes will help put an end to leukemia and lymphoma.

-Jami Sanders
Calvary Class of 2019
 
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