Students and staff at Reynolds secondary have once again outdone themselves in their Cops for Cancer campaign, this year raising $101,066 toward sending kids with cancer to camp.
On Friday afternoon, the school presented the Canadian Cancer Society’s Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock team with the cheque, raised through student-led fundraisers, including a massive head shave campaign across the school.
“The mantras over the last couple of weeks have been ‘one cupcake at a time,’ ‘embrace the chaos’ and we really like to say, ‘hey, it’s Reynolds. That’s how we roll,’” said Dean Norris-Jones, a cancer survivor who took on the role of hyping up the students to welcome the Tour de Rock team through their last stop on an Island-wide bike tour.
When the team rolled in, tour rider and Reynolds grad Niki Hodgkinson, a Saanich Police officer, attributed the school’s passion for the event to principal Alana Charlton who retires at the end of the school year.
“We’ve been talking about Reynolds since training,” said Hodgkinson. “You symbolize the energy and the love and the community it takes to make this happen.”
After covering the event at Reynolds in 2010 and 2011, Saanich News reporter Kyle Slavin decided to apply to join the Tour de Rock team and had his head shaved during the assembly.
“Reynolds is the most unbelievable school,” Slavin said. “There’s no way to describe what Reynolds says or does because you’re so much more than a school; you’re a community unto yourself.”
nnorth@saanichnews.com