Summer golfers, take note: the next time you tee off, you can do it for a good cause.
The brand-new 窪蹋勛圖厙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 I wanted to do something different, explains DCARS founder Matthew Foss. Hes also a fan of the sport. I do golf, but I havent been out much in the last couple of years.
Mr. Foss is a combined honours student at Dalhousiehe studies (its a mouthful) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Chemistryand 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 Hodgkins 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 DCARSs first as an active student society, but membership is already strong: over 25 members are listed on the societys 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 a lecture series, perhaps.
But the initial goal right now is to raise enough money to assign a Student Cancer Research Scholarship. 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 societys plans for the 2012/2013 year are still in genesis. Weve just started discussing the process nothings been set in stone yet.
A constant feed of Cancer in the News articles runs on a sidebar on the DCARS website: recent headlines such as Laser Maps and Zaps Cancer Tumors, New Method for Identifying Lung Modules, and Blood Test Could Guide Treatment for Kidney Cancer 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 havent swung a club in a while (or ever), you dont need to worry about being outplayed by veterans; tournament play is set up for fun. Its a scramble whoevers ball is best off the tee is where you play the next ball, Mr. Foss explains. The event will also feature awards for longest drive and closest to the pin.