Bella, Carly, and Morgan at one of their planning meetings earlier in the year.

by Cassie Mattia

Loveland, Ohio – Could our Loveland Tigers be any more impressive?! Loveland High School students, Carly Wilhoite (Junior), Bella Dillhoff (Junior), and Morgan Wheeler (Senior) announced this month that they will be competing in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) “Students Of The Year” campaign!

The “Students of the Year” campaign is a seven-week fundraising, leadership, and development program for high school students that focuses on developing young leaders in the community while they raise funds for LLS. This particular campaign began on February 17th and will end on April 9th.

During the seven-week program, Wilhoite, Dillhoff, and Wheeler will take on organizing events, as well as collecting items from restaurants and stores that will be auctioned off during “The Grand Finale” at the end of the campaign.

“We were not allowed to collect any money before the campaign starts, but we can get commitments,” Wilhoite said, “As of right now, we have been running around the whole city collecting commitments for donations, auction items, t-shirt sponsors, and Fund The Nights.”

The team of Tigers recently finalized their t-shirt design and they are now available for pre-order below.

The campaign has nearly twenty student team members and a group of adult helpers, which includes Katie Rose, Jen Ramage, and Molly Reboltz from The LLS.

Carly Wilhoite shared that she and her two campaign teammates in some way during their lives have had to deal with cancer, which is why this is so important to all of them.

“Morgan’s grandmother passed away due to lung cancer in the spring of 2016, and my grandfather passed away due to esophageal cancer when I was young,” Wilhoite said, “Bella and I have a friend and lacrosse teammate who was diagnosed with Leukemia a few years back and she thankfully won her fight. Supporting The LLS is my way of showing my support and love for those that have fought and are currently fighting the vicious battle against blood cancer, but the most important reason for our efforts in this campaign is Katie Rose and her family,” Wilhoite added, “Mrs. Rose is a teacher at the middle school and has been a mentor and friend to us throughout this whole thing. She lost her aunt to Leukemia in the summer of 2019. We love and appreciate Mrs. Rose for everything she has done for us, and there is simply nothing we wouldn’t be willing to do for her.”

Mrs. Rose, who has volunteered for The LLS for many years helping both the Pennies for Patients/Hero Squad and the Student of the Year campaigns, said she definitely has a personal stake in this type of work because she lost her 53-year-old aunt to AML a couple of years ago.

“I am always awed by how engaged my students become when asked to serve the greater good,” Rose said, “The Student of the Year campaign is the equivalent of a Master’s level class in philanthropy whereby students learn valuable skills that translate into their educational and career paths while doing such meaningful and important work. I am so proud of this team and the teams on whose shoulders they stand. We hope the Loveland community will support them in their journey!”

Morgan Wheeler shared what her experience was like her sophomore year participating in her first campaign.

“I had such a great opportunity first hand to see what an impact that the LLS has had not only on the patients it supports but the candidates it develops into amazing leaders in their community,” Wheeler said, “I hope that by accepting the nomination as a Student of the Year candidate that I can honor those who have lost their battle to cancer, like my grandmother, and help those who are currently fighting.”

Wheeler said that the biggest part of the campaign is “The Grand Finale,” which is set to be held on April 9th.

“It is truly an exciting and memorable moment that I remember very well from participating on the team last year,” Wheeler explained, “Candidates are recognized for all of their hard work and there is a commemoration for those who are fighting their battle or have lost their battle to cancer. At the Grand Finale, there is also a silent auction that offers teams one last way to raise funds that will go towards their teams total.”

“Our team is in the works of collecting auction items so that we can put baskets together to be sold at the auction,” Wheeler said, “At the end of the night, the winning team is announced and the title, ‘Students of the Year,’ is handed to the candidates of that team.”

To learn more about The LLS, Team CUREage 2.0, and how you can donate to the team today click the following link: https://events.lls.org/soh/TriStateSOY21/tcureage20.

If you or your business would like to contact Team CUREage 2.0 to help with their campaign email the team at lovelandllsteamcureage@gmail.com.

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The LLS is uniquely able to report on the many advances and accomplishments that have occurred since their founding in 1949. From cutting-edge research and precision medicine innovations to legislative victories that improve access to therapies for cancer patients, LLS plays a leading- and often pioneering- role in the fight against blood cancers. Since 2000, approximately 40 percent of all U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved cancer drugs were for blood cancer, and some are now used to treat other forms of cancer and non-malignant diseases. A “win” for blood cancers, therefore, is a win for the cancer community overall.

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