Marquette University Evans Scholars students hosted their biggest philanthropy event, the St. Baldrick’s dvent, March 30 in the Evans Scholars House to support childhood cancer research.
Evans Scholars and other Marquette students and staff showed their support by shaving their heads or cutting off eight inches or more of their hair.
Joanna Hernandez, a senior in the College of Education and Evans Scholar, said 28 people signed up to shave their heads for the event. But students and faculty could sign up during the event if they were inspired to shave their own hair.
Yaitzell Noriega, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences and Evans Scholar, helped organize the event for the first time.
“It’s for a great cause that I wanted to be a part of,” Noriega said.
The Evans Scholars at Marquette have been running this event and raising money for the nonprofit St. Baldrick’s Foundation for 11 years. During these years, the event has raised more than $100,000. This year, the Evans Scholars’ goal was to raise $15,000.
On the day of the event, the Evans Scholars House was decorated with green balloons, posters and streamers. Students sold raffle tickets to raise money to reach their goal.
Noriega said the Marquette Evans Scholars raised between $10,000 to $12,000 through raffle tickets and donations for St. Baldrick’s, and more donations flowed in during the event as well to help them reach their goal of $15,000 for the year.
According to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation website, every two minutes a child is diagnosed with cancer. About 300,000 children are diagnosed worldwide each year. St. Baldrick’s specifically focuses on children due to the many different types of childhood cancers, making it difficult to find cures for every child.
The Evans Scholars at Marquette started hosting the St. Baldrick’s event in dedication to Devlin Gray, who graduated from the university in 2012.
Gray was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia at 11 months old, according to the Western Golf Association Evans Scholar Foundation’s website. He was in remission, but when he was four years old, he relapsed and was diagnosed with a leukemic brain tumor. Since Gray’s recovery from the tumor, he attended Marquette and supported St. Baldrick’s wearing a leprechaun outfit each March to raise awareness about the foundation.
Andrea Coria, a freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences and an Evans Scholar said she didn’t know childhood cancer research was underfunded.
Four percent of United States federal funding is solely dedicated to childhood cancer research because there is a greater focus on adult cancer, according to the St. Baldrick’s website
Hernandez has been a part of planning and organizing the event for each of her four years at Marquette, and she said that many people who participate in the event return every year.
“(The event is) making a difference and helping children,” Hernandez said. “And it’s great seeing so many people involved.”
Xavier Cole, vice president of student affairs, attended the event and shaved his hair, which he said he has done for three years because it benefits eradicating the cancer.
Cole said the Evans Scholars have done “a wonderful job at promotion and fundraising. … I feel that the students have made an impact every year.”
Charla Replogle, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said she shaved her hair because the event is a “really good cause, and honestly, it’s just hair. It’s a fun thing to do, and it feels nice to be bald.”
