Two Bay High School students recently were named Cleveland Student Visionaries of the Year by Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Northern Ohio.
Seniors Maeve Ransom and John Finley received the honors for their efforts in fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which helps fight blood cancers.
Ransom and Finley helped to form Bay High School’s Team United, a group of about 30 students who helped organize different fundraising events, according to school communications director Karen Misciagna.
Over the course of just seven weeks, Team United brought together the Bay High student body to collect over $120,000 for blood cancer research, Misciagna said.
Along with about 30 other schools in the northern Ohio area, students raised over $821,000, she said.
Bay High was the top overall fundraiser among the group of schools, Misciagna said.
“This is not an official Bay High School club or activity, but it is something our students have been involved with for as long as I can remember,” she said.
Bay High Principal Jason Martin said the donations still are rolling in after the final count that named the school as the top fundraiser.
“They did an amazing job this year,” Martin said.
Martin praised Ransom and Finley’s efforts in getting such a generous team together with Team United.
The team itself, he said, made the most of their opportunities for fundraising.
“First of all, I mean, a great deal of pride in Maeve and John’s leadership,” Martin said. “But also, there were another 25 kids who were members of our team who helped us fundraise.
“To be able to make that much of an impact in the fight against cancer, is something that we as a school community are exceptionally proud of.”
According to Martin, the fundraiser helped to teach students life skills, and this was echoed through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Student Visionary program.
“It also teaches your kids leadership, networking, communication, team-building, all of those life skills that they’re going to need to succeed,” he said. “It creates that empathy and that passion for philanthropy.”
Finley, whose sister Jane was diagnosed with cancer during her time at Bay High, used his personal connection with the disease as motivation.
“My sister, Jane, she had cancer twice,” he said. “She actually started this at Bay, got everything going with LLS and Student (Visionaries) of the Year.
“It means a lot. It feels like I did something good. It’s really personal to me.”
Fundraisers for Team United included a partnership with Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, a dinner night at Avon restaurant Veranda, and the school’s 0.1K Fun Run event, Finley said.
Ransom said she has had a brush with cancer in her life.
Her mother, Heather, is a survivor of melanoma.
Being on the team since her freshman year, Ransom took the reins as a co-captain with Finley to form Team United.
“This is something that so many people can relate to, which is so unfortunate, but it really helped us get (Team United) off the ground,” Ransom said.
Bay’s student body was exceptionally receptive to Team United and all of their different fundraisers throughout the seven-week process, she said.
“I think there’s three cancer survivors at our school right now,” Ransom said. “To be able to get people so involved so that they can have that research … to see the community response so widely to that, was super, super cool.”
