Olentangy Liberty High School juniors Shifan Akbar, Tanush Prusty, and Jeracahand Senthilkumar have started their Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) Student Campaign. LLS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that aims to fight against blood cancer.
Their mission revolves around curing leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin disease, and myeloma, and also improving the lives of patients and families. Their fundraisers support lifesaving blood cancer research, providing free information and support services for all patients.
Akbar, Prusty, and Senthilkumar aim to help LLS’s incredible mission through their Student Visionary Campaign. This campaign is a sub-group of LLS where high schoolers embark on a seven-week campaign from January to March to raise money for LLS. At the end of the campaign, there is a grand finale event. The grand finale is where the leader and top donors from every LLS team in central Ohio can participate in a formal auction/party in downtown Columbus.
These juniors lead a Student Visionary Campaign called Coins for Cancer.
“There are many people on the Coins for Cancer team. We have about 30 people,” Akbar said. “Every person in our team is very passionate about creating a positive impact on the world, and all three of us have much faith in our team as well.”
Some events in their campaign include outreaching, emailing businesses to look for sponsorships, and asking individuals for personal donations. In their campaign, they hope to raise money and awareness for blood cancer.
Their connection to LLS is deeper than leading a team, however. All three of them have personal experience with cancer and hope through LLS, they can make an impact.
“We are all deeply impacted by cancer. Our closest family members and friends were heavily impacted by it, so we sought a way to make a difference,” Akbar said. “I have been doing this for two years now. Jerachand has been doing this for three years, and Tanush has been doing this for two years.”
In leading a campaign as big as this one, the team has faced some challenges regarding time management.
“We haven’t had many struggles, as our LLS team is great and they are all passionate about this,” Prusty said. “However, Jerry, Shifan, and I all seem to have trouble finding a balance between this and the other activities that we do. But, that still isn’t a huge problem for us as we are very passionate about this campaign and creating a positive impact.”
“When people read this article, they will at least be educated about our campaign, and they might have the motivation to also help this cause by either donating to our campaign or helping in their way,” Senthilkumar added.
This article was written by William Wang, an Olentangy Liberty High School student and a member of the Powell Youth Council, a 15-student-governed nonprofit organization recognized and partnered with the Powell government that Wang created in March of 2022. Powell Youth Council’s purpose is to give a voice and power to the youth of Powell in local decisions and projects, show how local leaders create projects and decisions, and motivate the youth to help their community.
