The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s High School Challenge has come to a close with 15 local high schools raising more than $210,000. This four-week competition ran from Feb. 4 to March 1, and encouraged students to develop leadership and fundraising skills in support of the LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.
For the first time in eight years, Walt Whitman High School received top honors bringing in a grand total of $91,761.76. Between numerous events that engaged members of Montgomery County, the school was able to fundraise $40,000 more than the previous year. Walter Johnson High School, last year’s top school, is the 2013 runner-up having raised more than $80,000.
Walt Whitman High School’s Pennies For Patients student leader, Valerie Acker, attributes the school’s success this year to their increased commitment to the mission and determination to achieve top honors.
Thanks to LLS’s partners at Pepco, a student at Walt Whitman High School will be awarded with a summer internship at Pepco’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. over an eight-week period where the student will assist the Corporate Citizenship and Social Responsibility Department.