On November 8th, NYU’s Stern School of Business partnered with DoSomething.org to host a Spit Challenge at ten different residence halls on the NYU campus. The goal of the “Give a Spit” challenge was to register over 5000 potential bone marrow donors.
DoSomething.org is one of the largest organizations in the United States that works to motivate young people to create social change.
“DoSomething.org spearheads national campaigns so 13- to 25-year-olds can make an impact – without ever needing money, an adult, or a car,” according to the organization’s website. The only requirement for participating in their “Give a Spit” challenge was that a student be 18 years old and healthy, requirements that could easily be met by a majority of NYU’s student body.
The ultimate hope of this particular challenge is to find a bone marrow match for Sheldon Mba. Sheldon is a college student from North Carolina with Aplastic Anemia. He is a sophomore who loves music, plays the sousaphone and the tuba, and dances for fun according to a Stern advertisement for the event. Sheldon came to NYU’s University Hall on that Friday to experience the challenge and meet with the participating students.
633 Stern Freshman participated as part of their Cohort Leadership Program. The program is designed to facilitate community building among Stern Freshman through working on events such as these, as well as many other projects. The students not only participated themselves, but they worked all day encouraging other NYU students to come and participate in the cheek-swabbing process. From standing on the streets directing students to come to working tables in the challenge itself, the freshman were doing whatever it took to help increase participation.
“This is a really good foundation,” said Jenny Yan, a Stern freshman who was working at the University Hall drive. “It’s a really good way to reach out to the maximum number of people that can meet the requirements for people who actually have leukemia or blood related cancer.”
The process itself only took a few minutes at most to complete, an aspect that encouraged many students who were participating at University Hall to get involved. “It only takes a few minutes out of your day, and could potentially make a big impact,” Jeffrey He, a senior in Stern, said.
When Stern freshmen Daniel Lee was asked why he got involved, he responded, “they have nothing to lose, may as well potentially help save a life.” The prospect of saving a life was very inspiring to many of the students who participated.
Participating in events such as these is extremely important for our community, and the country as a whole. “Every 4 minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer needing bone marrow,” said Do Something’s press release. It can be extremely difficult for individuals with this cancer to find matches in their own family or within the registry. It is up to willing individuals to participate in events like these to help save lives.