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Carley Cole
AP Lit
1st Period
09 April 2012
Senior Project Speech
There was not a life changing event that made me choose my career path. I did not
experience any amazing event that pushed me to this field of work. I want to be a pediatric
oncology nurse because each year almost 12,000 children are diagnosed with some form of
cancer. Almost 2,000 of those die. However, the present day survival rate for pediatric cancer is
80%. I want to become responsible for that 80%. I want to become responsible for the happiness
of an eager child. For my senior project I decided to host a 5k charity race to raise money for St.
Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
To start off, in my research paper I studied the effects of cancer on children today and
how St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital plays a role in previous and present day cancer
research and treatment. From my research, the founder of the hospital, Danny Thomas, struck me
as an impressive man. Being an accredited television producer, Thomas decided to use his
money to fund the building of St. Jude in Memphis, TN. Presently, the hospital treats 260
children daily, employs a staff of more than 3,000, and operates on a daily budget of 1.4 million
dollars. The hospital runs entirely on donation, and it is apparent that it needs all the support it
can receive.

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For my project facilitator I chose my previous cross country coach, Tom Armstrong, who
is also a math teacher here at Creekview. He was exceptionally helpful in my race planning. I
knew he would have relevant advice because he has hosted a 5k race before, and run in many of
them. In the beginning, he overwhelmed me with information. However, every question or
problem I presented him with, he did his best to solve it. He presented me with many websites
and contacts to help me decide on things like timing equipment, sponsorships, and
advertisements. At first, he wanted me to use professional timers and have a company set up and
host my race, but after considering my funds I decided it would be best to do it all without
professional help.
My overall product was money raised. I raised a total of $530 for donation. Choosing this
project was not a difficult decision. Running is a passion of mine. I competed on the school’s
cross country team my junior year and fell in love. For this project I combined my love of this
sport with the ability to raise money for a commendable cause. If you take a look at the
portfolios I handed you, you can follow along with my overall explanation of my project process.
The easiest step of this entire process was deciding on the location. Boling Park in Canton
behind Cherokee High School fit my criteria perfectly. It is easy to find and has a perfect running
course that even the high school cross country teams use for competitions. On page three you can
see an example of the paperwork I completed prior to reserving the event. No detail went
untouched throughout this application.
September of 2011 consisted of reserving the park and meeting with my insurance agent.
Acquiring insurance was difficult and expensive. I had several meetings with my agent at Cotton
States concerning every detail of the race. In the end, my parents paid for a 350 dollars insurance

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plan to cover my event. However, after writing the letter you see on page six, I received
sponsorship from Cotton States and a one hundred dollar donation the day of the race. October
consisted of finalizing my reservation of Boiling Park, creating my flyers, registration forms, and
t shirts, and fundraising. On page seven there is an example of my flyer. I posted these flyers
throughout the school and throughout Canton and Ball Ground. My registrations forms, page
eight, were posted at certain sites that I used as places of registration. Lloyd Family Dentistry
and Cotton States both participated in registering runners. My race took place on November 12,
2011 at 10 AM and I charged a $10 fee per runner. I found that it is extremely hard to find
motivated people to run 3.1 miles on a very cold, very early morning. I arrived at Boling Park at
six AM to begin setting up. It was extremely cold and hard to concentrate on the things I needed
to do. I had thirteen runners attend, and as you can see on page nine, the average age of the
runner was thirty five and the average finish time was around 39 minutes. I designed a t shirt to
give the top ten runners at the end of the race also. (Show them t shirt) Everyone at my race was
very supportive of my efforts and gave generous donations along with their registration fee.
The costs of this project were astounding. As you can see on page ten, costs included:
100 dollar security deposit to reserve the park, a 350 dollar insurance plan, 75 dollars for
supplies, and 100 dollars for t shirts. However, having the ability to raise this much money for
such a worthy cause outweighed all the costs. On the next page is the letter I received after
donating the money. Reading the story of Konnor, the seven year old with a form of lymphoma,
made me realize how much of a difference one person can make.
Despite my success, I faced many challenges during this project. Money was the first
problem. Did I really want to spend this much money on a project that could fail? Thankfully,

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my parents were generous enough to provide the money I needed for this project. However, the
bigger problem I encountered was with the hospital itself. In late October I attempted to contact
St. Jude to inform them of my fundraiser. They proceeded to tell me that St. Jude does not
sponsor long distance running events for liability reasons and any other fundraising ideas should
be submitted 60 days prior to the event to receive St. Jude’s support. Therefore, I had to submit
my donation without St. Jude’s recognition or gratitude for my event. All of these problems
seemed small in the long run, I still raised money for a great cause, and I know my money
funded a treatment, or a research program that will eventually improve the lives of many children
that are currently suffering.
Throughout this process, I realized how motivated I am. I feel proud to have completed
such a large and difficult project. I still feel adamant about pursuing a career as a pediatric
oncology nurse. This project reinforced my drive and determination to complete my future goals.
Before I started the senior project, I considered it to be a big waste of time, and just something to
stress seniors out. Why would teachers put so much stress on us right before graduation? We are
about to enter the real world. We are leaving home and attempting to survive on our own. So
why add to our stress? I believe this project was a lot more beneficial than I can express. I
believe I will always feel proud of what I have accomplished here. This project was the highlight
of my senior year, and is something that should be continued throughout the generations. It
brought me out of my self-centered world. I stopped thinking about only myself and started
thinking about the world around me. I began to acknowledge the children who aren’t as fortunate
as me. The kids that do not have the luxury of living a disease-free life. I compared my fear of
leaving home to the fear of an eight year old facing death. I encourage each one of you to think
about these children continuously. I am thankful every day for my health now. I am thankful for

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living without fear and suffering. Pray for the children. Money is not the only thing they need. I
want to leave you with a short, thirty second video that inspires me every time I see it. It is from
the series of Johnson and Johnson commercials for nurses. (Play video). Thank you all for your
time this evening.