Relay For Life is this weekend. From 6 p.m. Saturday until 6 a.m. Sunday, an estimated 1,800 students, faculty, staff and community members will join together on Francis Field for a night of celebrating, remembering and fighting back against cancer. Will you be there? As Friday’s edition of Student Life highlighted, Mardi Gras is also this Saturday.

Students planning the Relay for Life fundraiser at Washington University are worried that Mardi Gras will keep fellow students from attending. The events, which will lead students to opposite sides of St. Louis, are both scheduled for March 5.

Competitive eating made its mark on the DUC on Feb. 19 as 196 students from 32 teams took on the Vermonster Challenge in an event co-sponsored by Relay For Life and Mr. Wash. U. Team Banana Split scarfed down 20 scoops of ice cream and other toppings with a winning time of a minute and eight seconds. Banana Split was composed of sophomores David Zhang, Alex Gu, Nick Justin and seniors Jerry Yu and Peter Lam. Relay For Life celebrated its success in raising $32, 523.44 in 48 hours, which is a national record. Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer So is on March 5th while Mr. Wash. U., a fundraiser for City Faces, is on March 24.

Relay for Life’s newly introduced fundraiser has helped make Washington University’s Relay one of the most successful Relay programs in the nation. The fundraiser, called $48K in 48 Hours, raised more than $30,000 for Washington University’s upcoming Relay for Life. The event lasted from 10 p.m. on Feb. 16 to 10 p.m. Feb. 18.

Relay for Life was held from March 20 at 6 p.m. to March 21 at 6 a.m. This year’s event featured approximately 1,600 participants and raised roughly $180,000.

Freshman Jordan Wagner will be the featured survivor speaker at Washington University’s Relay For Life.

Photos from the 2009 Relay for Life.

Washington University sophomore Charlotte Kerr has received one of the yearly Childhood Cancer Scholarships sponsored by the American Cancer Society (ACS).

We are writing in response to the article “Fighting Cancer” by Kelly Diabagate. We applaud your initiative in alerting the campus community of cancer-related issues, as they should definitely be brought to the attention of the campus community often.