By Kamila Gehman ‘26 and Faith Kneisley ‘26
“The process of finding out that your daughter or son has cancer has gotta be the worst thing. And the fact that we get to do stuff to help support them, and actually help out is really cool,” said Colson Erb (12). Finding out a distant family member has cancer is one of the most devastating feelings. So when it’s your own child, the feeling is ten times worse.
Mini-thon is run by NHS members in high schools all across Pennsylvania. The goal is to raise as much money as possible, which is then donated to Penn State to support kids with cancer. The question is, how at CV are we specifically trying to make an impact?
Mckenna Nicarry, a teacher at CVHS, is the main organizer for the minithon, and as a leader, it’s important to have a passion for what you’re When asked why minithon was important to her, she said, “Mini-thon’s important because I’ve been doing it since I was 14. So when I was in high school, I participated in it and saw the impact that it makes on families and children impacted by childhood cancer.”
Mini-thon is a great reminder of how blessed many of us are with healthy bodies, as many kids with cancer never make it to high school. “It just really gave me a purpose and drive to help others and just know how small you are in the grand scheme of everything and just really giving back to these families that are really going through so much,” said Nicarry. Mini-thon cultivates gratitude and a new perspective on how precious life is.
Last school year, a group of NHS kids along with Ms. Nicarry and Mr. Shenk went to Penn State Medical center to see everything that was going on behind the scenes. They saw labs, and where the kids are living, and it changed their perspective on mini-thon tremendously. Seeing the kids in person connected the dots between something they are passionate about and work so hard to make a difference for, and actually seeing that difference with their own eyes.