SLVMS student sets new record for Relay for Life

San Lorenzo Valley Middle School seventh-grader Lillian Robinson, set a new record for the Scotts Valley Relay for Life last weekend, completing 65 miles over the course of 24 hours.
“Relay for life is a fundraiser for cancer and she was part of the SLV Middle School team,” said Nathan Beck, Robinson’s stepfather.
On June 6, 24 local teams participated in the Relay for Life at Skypark in Scotts Valley, raising over $68,000. SLVMS teacher Claire Hackett, said that the SLVMS team raised $7,500 for cancer at the relay, with multiple kids walking over 30 miles.
“This is our third year having a middle school team, and we got started because we had a student who wanted to start a middle school team whose mom had passed from cancer, and we’ve grown from about five kids the first year to 40 kids this year,” Hackett said.
The SLVMS Relay for Life team spent the last six months fundraising by hosting bake sales and collecting donations from friends and family. They also raised money by duck taping a teacher to the wall, with each piece of duck tape costing $1.
Robinson and many other participants walked through the night from 10 a.m. Saturday morning to 10 a.m. Sunday morning.
“When I went, I just told everybody that I was going to walk all day and night and no one really believed me,” Robinson said. “I didn’t really have a goal, I just wanted to do as much as I could, and that’s as much as I did.”
Since her Grandmother passed away from cancer, Robinson thought it would be fun to help support and raise awareness through the Relay.
“At the end of the Relay for life when they did the final lap, they announced my name and said how many miles I did and then they gave me a bag and a nice mug,” she said.
The previous record for the Scotts Valley Relay for Life was 50 miles, which Robinson beat by 15 miles.