When many of their friends were kicking back on Friday night, 500 Tufts students kicked up their heels to walk in Relay for Life, a 12-hour event to raise money for cancer research.
The event, which took place simultaneously in various locales nationwide, was hosted in the Tufts Gantcher Center's indoor track. Individual students and teams walked all night, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
"We've had a really successful event," senior and Relay for Life co-chair Josh Ludmer said. With $73,000 raised, he said, the group has already broken records from the past two years. The event is only in its third year.
"This year I was hoping for $70,000, and we got it," Ludmer said, adding that he expects additional donations from area businesses.
A total of 48 teams participated in the event. Among the 16 teams that raised the most money were fraternities Theta Delta Chi, Theta Chi, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Zeta Psi and Alpha Tau Omega, as well as sororities Alpha Omicron Pi and the senior pledge classes of Alpha Phi and Chi Omega.
The team that raised the most money was student drama group Pen, Paint and Pretzels, which alone raised nearly $8,000.
Top ranking non-Greek teams included Team Leslie Parris, Team Oh Six, Team Gopington, Hawaii Club and the Tufts Equestrian team.
Sponsors could make a donation online or with checks.
Ludmer, along with co-chair senior Jon Godsey and American Cancer Society (ACS) representative Jillian Gurek, took on the massive task of arranging the event. The organizers' hard work paid off.
"We tried to reach out a little more into the community" with flyers, press releases and the involvement of additional cancer survivors, Ludmer said. "People knew a lot about Relay this year. It's catching on."
Five hundred participants were registered for the event. Activity in the gym peaked around 10 p.m., Ludmer said, although at 12:30 a.m., there were still around 75 students walking around the track and many more hanging out in the gym.
While some students walked, others played frisbee, worked on schoolwork, ate and played cards in the center of the track. Some napped on sleeping bags they had brought to help them last through the night.
Live bands and CDs provided entertainment at the non-alcoholic event.
Sophomore Elana Cohen-Khani participated as part of the Hawaii Club Team. "People [are] coming and going," she said, with replacements rotating in and out to replace exhausted team members.
Cohen-Khani kept her energy up with a Dunkin' Donuts "Box of Joe."
One of Cohen-Khani's team members has family connections to someone with cancer, which inspired her to participate.
It was also "a fun way to spend a Friday night," she said.
Freshmen Derek Ricciuto and Isaac Emmanuel also walked, Ricciuto as part of the team from the South dormitory. Emmanuel was not registered, but came to spend time with his friends.
Ricciuto raised money through Relay for Life's online recruitment system, enlisting the financial support of parents and friends.
"All my friends were doing it," Ricciuto said "It's been really exciting."
Ricciuto and his group, like many others, ate food, listened to music, hung out, played Frisbee and even swam in the Gantcher pool.
Ricciuto said that he knew about these types of fundraisers in high school and wanted to "get more involved."
The event also included ceremonies to honor cancer survivors - and those who had been lost to the disease.
According to Godsey, Relay for Life honored 10-12 cancer survivors from the Medford-Somerville community during the opening ceremonies. University President Lawrence Bacow spoke, as well as "Real World: Key West" star Tyler Duckworth (LA '04).
People assembled placed luminaries (powered by glow-sticks) around the edge of the track, each light commemorating a loved one lost to cancer. Additional luminaries spelled out the word "Hope" on the bleachers.
For an hour, the lights were shut off to let the luminaries shine on.
"It was the most poignant moment of the evening," Cohen-Khani said.
