LEAVING THEIR MARK

Abrianna Leaves Her MARK on the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Last year, I was given a once in a lifetime opportunity to run for the 2019 Leukemia and Lymphoma Students of the Year campaign. It is a seven-week philanthropic leadership development program during which students foster professional skills such as entrepreneurship, marketing, and project management in order to raise funds for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I raised funds in honor of my nana, Claudia Jensen and family friend Elizabeth Blair. My nana lost her battle to Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) on April 1, 2010 at the age of 68. I have wanted to help raise funds to find a cure and raise awareness ever since. A year later, on August 18, 2011 my family friend, Elizabeth Brooklyn Blair, was diagnosed with Stage IV Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoblastic Lymphoma just a month after her fifth birthday. As a result of past LLS fundraising efforts and the research and treatments developed, Elizabeth is now 12 years old and has been in remission for five years!

Cancer survivor Elizabeth pictured at top

Student of the Year Gala

was able to experience what it would be like to work for a non-profit organization. Part of my responsibilities was recruiting new candidates for the upcoming campaign, and in doing so, I was able to get Phoenix Christian students involved. The mentor program is a program for previous candidates to help and support the new candidates.

During my time with LLS, I learned about treatments for cancer and some of the challenges. I became aware that there is an ignorance among people about the significance of ethnicity in the bone marrow registry. I decided I wanted to do something about it, so I created my senior capstone project to address underrepresentation of the Latino community on the bone marrow registry.

Through my involvement, I have been blessed to grow, learn, make lasting memories, and create amazing relationships with people. It has helped inspire me in leadership and allowed me to not be afraid to stand up for something I am passionate about. I have also learned to not let fear stop me especially with public speaking. When you are passionate and driven about a cause, nothing or no one can stop you.

Grace Leaves Her MARK on All of Us

8 Each morning one very special PC student requires more effort to get dressed, brush her hair and teeth, prepare breakfast and gather her books. When she arrives on campus, she meets her aid or a friend who guides her to the first class of the day. Most days that is Art. She greets Mrs. Wolfe with a great big smile each morning and plans out her project for the morning. She uses her hands and vivid imagination to create. Mrs. Wolfe shared, “Learning to be Grace’s eyes has been a challenge for me. I am grateful for wiki-stix, as they are re-useable and allow Grace to outline her drawings and then fill them in around the wiki-stix. Grace is currently working on a clay tile mosaic. She designed it, cut the pieces out of clay using her patterns and has just finished glazing the pieces. Adapting projects to Grace’s needs has stretched my creativity in coming up with those adaptations and God has helped me come up with those adaptations that work for her.”

Grace has always struggled with her vision, but it was only a year and a half ago that she lost all vision and with that, lost her vivacious love for life. She was no longer able to play the music she so loved, draw and paint, read her textbooks and so many other daily tasks we take for granted.

Grace previously attended Phoenix Christian during elementary school but left to move closer to a team of doctors in Denver. After returning to Phoenix, Grace knew she wanted something more. She wanted to come back home. This was a HUGE moment for Grace and Phoenix Christian. Although we have a growing population of students with learning differences, we have not had the opportunity to welcome a student who is visually impaired. Moreover, we were quite concerned about our limited resources to fully educate Grace. She not only needed a fulltime aid, we needed to acquire her textbooks in Braille and educate our teachers on best practices.

Grace’s mom cannot believe the growth she has seen in her daughter. At home, she has begun to learn to play the piano by ear and is now hoping to learn how to play the ukulele. When she picks her up from school, she has a HUGE smile on her face and loves her teachers, aids, classmates and classes.

Even though we at Phoenix Christian hope to leave an incredible mark on Grace, most of us agree that it’s Grace who is leaving her mark on us.

“She laughs at my corny jokes and groans when I tell her that she can do something, even though it may be hard.” – JAN WOLFE

It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks, to go forward with a great desire forever beating at the door of our hearts as we travel toward our distant goal. – Helen Keller