SV teen raises more than $4K for diabetes research
After months of planning, Seneca Valley student Emily Cramer's work paid off this weekend when about 150 people arrived at North Boundary Park on Sunday to participate in the diabetes charity walk she organized.
The event raised $4,530 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. About $3,000 was raised before the event online, with the remainder being gathered at the walk itself.
Emily has dealt with Type 1 diabetes since childhood, and created the walk to collect money for diabetes research as well as to raise awareness about the condition in the community.
The event was part of her senior project, which is a graduation requirement for all Seneca Valley students. Baierl Toyota, Karski and Spokane Orthodontics, Butler Technologies Inc. and Broadway Car Wash Equipment sponsored the walk.
“It went extremely well,” Emily said. “We had a huge turnout. The weather was beautiful. Aside from it being extremely hot, there was no rain or anything. It all went pretty smooth.”
“It was an overwhelming success,” Emily's mentor, Jen Hillwig, added. “We had plenty of T-shirts. We got some great pictures of the whole group, and the walk went off great. (Emily) did a lot of hard work that went into this. She did way more than we ever expected.”
More attendees
The number of attendees exceeded what she'd hoped for, Emily said.
“We had about 125 people signed up, and we knew some of them wouldn't be able to come just because of things coming up,” she said. “But almost everybody that signed up came, except for five people. There were a ton of extra people that didn't sign up that also came. The turnout was far beyond what I expected.”
Emily designed the event with Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation walks she had attended in the past in mind. She said the event was on a much smaller scale than those national walks, which can have attendees numbering in the thousands, but it was still a great experience.
“It did feel a little different, only because I was pretty nervous and very excited at the same time,” Emily said. “I had a lot of emotions rushing through my body the whole day. Once we all got on the track, looking back at how many people were behind me was insane. It really felt good to know that I have that many people supporting me.”
Write essay
Before submitting her project as her senior capstone, Emily will write a few essay components to present to judges in the spring of 2022 before she graduates.
“Since I got my project done in the summer, I'm pretty ahead,” she said.
Hillwig said the senior project is valuable in teaching students life skills.
“It teaches how difficult it can be to put something together, how to face challenges, how to problem-solve,” she said. “It teaches them more about work experience and adult life, how things don't always go as planned and how to persevere through it.
“It also teaches you more about how to help out in the community. Doing stuff for others is so important.”
