Shady Side students in friendly competition to raise funds for cancer fight

To donate online Team ACE at http://bit.ly/2khxp9dTeam Sophia and Weezie at http://bit.ly/2kSGZ2h Sign up for one of our email newsletters. Five Shady Side Academy teens are vying for a Student of the Year title through a campaign that teaches leadership...

Shady Side students in friendly competition to raise funds for cancer fight

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Team ACE at //bit.ly/2khxp9d

Team Sophia and Weezie at //bit.ly/2kSGZ2h

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Five Shady Side Academy teens are vying for a Student of the Year title through a campaign that teaches leadership development and philanthropy.

The competition, sponsored by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Western Pennsylvania, encourages students to raise money for the group. Winners can secure a $5,000 scholarship.

Students Aya Youssef, Cat Jegasothy and Emmie Lau are competing as Team ACE, while Sophia DelSole and Mary McVeagh are Team Sophia and Weezie.

“We're raising money so we all can live in a world with less blood cancer,” said Youssef, 15, a sophomore.

Despite the rivalry, all five students said they are united in the goal of raising both awareness and money for research. There are 12 competitors vying for Student of the Year, including teens from Hampton and North Hills high schools.

Winners will be announced on Feb. 25 during a celebration aboard a Gateway Clipper boat in Pittsburgh.

Founded in 1949, the mission of the society is to find a cure and ensure access to treatment for blood cancer patients. Someone in the United States is diagnosed every three minutes with blood cancer, according to the LLS website. Money raised for LLS has led to advancements in chemotherapy, bone marrow and stem cell transplants, as well as new targeted oral therapies, LLS Campaign Manager Jen Miller said.

Junior “Weezie” McVeagh said time spent with a young child battling leukemia spurred her to desire to participate in the contest.

“Seeing how cancer takes over a family's life and the effects it had on the child was devastating,” she said. “Witnessing what the child and family go through on a daily basis made me want to make a change in the awful way cancer affects people.”

Team ACE will raise money through a girls basketball tournament called the Shady Side Academy Cancer Classic, as well as a movie night.

Team Sophia and Weezie plan to bring in money by hosting a dinner at Chipotle.

“It's so impressive to see what these students are doing to fund-raise and the passion they have to be philanthropic,” Miller said. “Sometimes I have remind myself that they are only in high school. Their drive and motivation is amazing.”

Tawnya Panizzi is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. Reach her at 412-782-2121, ext. 2 or at tpanizzi@tribweb.com.

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