Each year, the Rhode Island chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society allows local high school students to learn the arts of team building, development and executive leadership as part of its Students of the Year campaign.

Students are chosen, via nomination or application, from high schools around the state to participate in a whirlwind seven-week campaign that yields fundraising goals upwards of $20,000 per team, to support both research and families fighting blood cancers.

Each team consists of up to three captains who manage their own teams, forging relationships with local businesses, and developing and executing unique fundraising strategies to help meet their goals.

This year, three Cranston West students – Jordan Simpson, Emma Hanley and Ava Santamaria – have joined forces as “Team Bad to the Bone Marrow” to raise money for the cause.

For Emma, having lost grandparents to cancer, her participation in the campaign is quite personal. And for Jordan, whose aunt was diagnosed after she began working on the Students of the Year campaign, her participation has taken on extra meaning as well.

The team has worked tirelessly since their nominations in June 2019, when they were just sophomores. Having used their senior counterparts as benchmarks, the members of Team Bad to the Bone Marrow have developed a strategy, solicited donations for raffles and silent auctions, and created fundraisers to take place throughout the months of February and March to support their mission.

“We got to see the campaigns unfold,” Simpson remembered of last year’s seniors, “and it looked very cool from the outside.”

The team has set an ambitious goal of $25,000, and its members are using their personal networks as well as the surrounding community to help them succeed. Among the team’s scheduled events are fundraiser nights at Chipotle, The Simple Greek, Blaze Pizza, Chelo’s and Campanella’s, and golf and “paint and wine” fundraisers at the Alpine Country Club.

As the young ladies recounted, stepping into the very adult shoes of event planning and development felt a bit intimidating.

“At first, I was very nervous,” Simpson shared, “and then once we did our first phone call, we got a really good, positive response, and it was like, ‘Give me the next person!’”

The members of Team Bad to the Bone Marrow explained they have drawn strength and motivation from meeting their LLS Honored Hero, 16-year-old leukemia survivor and Johnston resident Caitlynn Zinni. Now in remission for 11 years, she is a junior at Johnston High School.

“We thanked her for being brave and talking to us,” Simpson said of Zinni. “She thanked us for all of our hard work. You would never know how hard she fought. That really put it in perspective for us.”

“Cancer seems like it won’t affect you,” Simpson continued, “until you see someone that is basically you, and has fought it her whole life.”

Simpson explained that the meeting “just reminded us why we’re all competing – why we’re raising this money.”

After having been nominated and selected for the opportunity, the trio decided right away they would work together. Friends since the first grade, they knew they could trust one another and would work well as a team. They explained they have been dividing their time and efforts on the campaign equally, in consideration of one another’s time and schedules.

The competition, as friendly as it may be, also comes with some potential rewards. Captains of each team are vying for a $2,500 scholarship – divided equally amongst co-captains – and the title of Student(s) of the Year for Rhode Island for the team with the highest fundraising total. There is also a $500 Mission Award, which, as explained by Rhode Island chapter campaign specialist Jordan Kuzniak, will go to the “teams that best exemplify LLS’s mission during the campaign.”

Kuzniak highlighted the importance of this particular campaign for the community.

“Just getting out there and telling people about the different services could be a huge help to people diagnosed with blood cancers, at a very trying time in their lives,” she explained.

She also said that many individuals battling blood cancers are unaware of the resources and support available to them through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, making the community-based education provided by Students of the Year participants invaluable to their mission.

Kuzniak said that Rhode Island currently has 11 teams, with 21 co-captains, from eight local high schools. Each team has over 10 members, making the total participation currently around 110 students.

“We hope to bring in at least $150,000 with these 11 teams in these seven weeks,” she shared, “and I don’t think that’s a stretch.”

Kuzniak explained that participants, in addition to setting up smaller fundraisers, seek to secure corporate sponsorships as well.

The campaign officially opens Feb. 3 and closes March 13, ending with a grand finale celebration on March 21 at Kirkbrae Country Club in Lincoln, where winning teams and participants will be awarded.

Check out Team Bad to the Bone Marrow’s scheduled fundraisers on Facebook by searching “Bad To The Bone – Marrow,” read about the team or donate at events.lls.org/neri/newportsoy20/bthebonema, or email badtothebonemarrow2020@gmail.com.