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Relay for Life: Fighting Back

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Jena LaMendola
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Viviana Victoria
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at FSU chapter.

Spirits were high on Mike Long Track this past weekend where Florida State’s 2011 Relay for Life took place. The event began at six in the evening Friday. Sororities, fraternities, clubs, organizations, and individual runners all came out to participate. The Relay for Life is an annual event held by The American Cancer Society and is one of their most profitable fundraisers. The event lasted late into Friday night and all throughout early Saturday because “cancer never sleeps,” therefore, neither do the runners. Three laps were completed during the relay because of The American Cancer Society’s mission to celebrate, remember, and fight back. Each of these missions represented a different lap of the relay.  Along with the relay, participants were able to visit food stands and purchase merchandise both sold and made by relay teams to raise additional money. Overall, an astounding $75,671.93 was raised by FSU students through online fundraising and individual donations. As money was not the only goal, FSU’s Relay for Life also helped spread awareness and alert individuals about the concerns of cancer and the need for funding. With the money raised and overwhelming participation and support, Florida State’s Relay for Life successfully fought back against cancer!

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Jena LaMendola is a senior at Florida State University. She is studying editing, writing and media with a minor in communications. With a love for the new social medias around her and an interest in using them as well as the fundamentals of rhetoric she hopes to continue her studies in graduate school for public relations. Jena is originally from Manhattan, New York but grew up in south Florida. She has worked various internships and is on the writing, editing and public relations staff for Florida State's Clutch fashion magazine. Jena LaMendola was the former lead writer for her school's Her Campus branch and is excited to work with her fellow Campus Coorespondent to build and promote the FSU branch to the fullest. Jena loves fashion and the business behind it. She has previously worked as a PR intern for a company whose clients included a New York wedding dress designer as well as an intern for Mercedes- Benz Fashion Week. Jena hopes to bring her talents in writing and editing to her school's Her Campus branch and is excited for the school year.
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Viviana Victoria is a sophomore at the Florida State University, class of 2013, double majoring in Retail Merchandising & Product Development and the new English track offered at FSU, editing, writing, and media. Born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida, moving up to Tallahassee was quite a change. During her first year in college, after changing her major three times, she was fortunate enough to discover her passion for writing this early on. Her goal is to write for a major fashion magazine or to be a screenplay writer in the future. She is an active member of the Collegiate Merchandising Association (CMA) at FSU, as well as a contributing writer of College Magazine, an advice publication for college students founded by a graduate student of Maryland. Some of her interests include playing sports, reading, working out, and basically having a good time. Her ultimate life goal is to touch lives and to be remembered as the girl who always made people smile regardless of what was thrown her way.