Summer golfers, take note: the next time you tee off, you can do it for a good cause.
The brand-new AV俱乐部 Cancer Awareness and Research Society (DCARS) is hosting its first charity golf tournament on Saturday, September 8 at the Lost Creek Golf Club.
A golf tournament is a slight deviation from the standard student fundraiser formula, but 鈥淚 wanted to do something different,鈥� explains DCARS founder Matthew Foss. He鈥檚 also a fan of the sport. 鈥淚 do golf, but I haven鈥檛 been out much in the last couple of years.鈥�
Mr. Foss is a combined honours student at AV俱乐部鈥攈e studies (it鈥檚 a mouthful) 鈥淏iochemistry and Molecular Biology and Chemistry鈥濃�攁nd a recipient of the Victor Hertzman Prize and the Kilmer MacMillan Memorial Book Prize.
But most relevant to the issue at hand: Mr. Foss was diagnosed with Hodgkin鈥檚 Lymphoma in 2010. He started DCARS in May of this year, when his most recent round of radiation treatments finished.
The 2012/2013 academic year will be DCARS鈥檚 first as an active student society, but membership is already strong: over 25 members are listed on the society鈥檚 website. Mr. Foss hopes to see the fledgling society both participate in established events such as Run For The Cure and Relay For Life and establish new events of its own 鈥� a lecture series, perhaps.
But 鈥渢he initial goal right now is to raise enough money to assign a Student Cancer Research Scholarship.鈥� The scholarship will be awarded to a student interested in pursuing cancer research as a primary career; Mr. Foss hopes to set its value at around six thousand dollars.
The rest of the society鈥檚 plans for the 2012/2013 year are still in genesis. 鈥淲e鈥檝e just started discussing the process鈥� nothing鈥檚 been set in stone yet.鈥�
A constant feed of 鈥淐ancer in the News鈥� articles runs on a sidebar on the DCARS website: recent headlines such as 鈥淟aser Maps and Zaps Cancer Tumors鈥�, 鈥淣ew Method for Identifying Lung Modules鈥�, and 鈥淏lood Test Could Guide Treatment for Kidney Cancer鈥� hint that science is finding new ways to combat cancer every day. With community support, DCARS hopes to fuel medical advances and student activism for a long time to come.
You can sign up for the golf tournament on . And even if you haven鈥檛 swung a club in a while (or ever), you don鈥檛 need to worry about being outplayed by veterans; tournament play is set up for fun. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a scramble 鈥� whoever鈥檚 ball is best off the tee is where you play the next ball,鈥� Mr. Foss explains. The event will also feature awards for 鈥渓ongest drive鈥� and 鈥渃losest to the pin.鈥�