Q. What exactly led you to advocating for Leukemia and Lymphoma awareness?

A. I lost my grandmother last year to COVID and cancer as well. And so, although I’m not the patient themselves, I do understand the struggle and the toll that it takes on families, especially with COVID. A lot of funds have been allocated more towards COVID relief rather than cancer treatments. So what Leukemia and Lymphoma society does is they help raise awareness through candidacy called students of the year. I chose people who I thought would be able to make a big impact and would be able to raise money.  We’re in our seven week campaign right now, [and] it’s gonna end next week. But I do think it is super important to donate for causes like this, especially during this time and so we’ve done spirit nights at Kendra Scott. We’ve been reaching out to companies through emails, matching gift donations and things like that to help raise money for a big relief project that they have been going on. They’ve donated over three billion to research and stuff like that. And so even though we’re not going to raise three billion, any amount is still a huge amount. 

Q. As a part of the LLS society, what do you hope to do?

A. I have to spread more awareness about leukemia and lymphoma, and how they don’t only work for just human lymphoma and Hodgkin’s disease. They’re working on research on stem cells, which helps all sorts of diseases, all cancers, and given today’s world we all have to kind of start focusing on what advancements we can make in the medical sector to help save lives. Also, this whole campaign helps with leadership skills, so it helps me develop that as well and learn how to make interpersonal connections.

Q. You have also created “Spartans for LLS”, why do you want students to be aware of this cause?

A. We are trying to encourage them because although we have school spirit for a lot of sports, we don’t have much for other activities. I feel like this is a good combination between leadership skills and also like innovation and passion for school related things like science. And so for kids who think going into medical stuff is cool or kids who just want to work on their business skills, I feel like I kind of wanted to bring this campaign here so that we could, in a sense, unify a lot of kids here and also to show we aren’t just here for ourselves. We are willing to work for other people too. 

Q. How exactly will fundraising help bring more awareness?

A. So when you fundraise for a cause, people won’t fundraise for no reason. They’re going to want to know what they’re giving money to. And so, we get an opportunity to explain what Leukemia and Lymphoma society strives to do and explain the profound impact of cancer upon many families, hospitals, healthcare workers, and the stress that gets put on them.  That can help other people empathize and realize that, hey, we can maybe donate a little bit to this cause to help reduce the number of patients because you’ll find new treatment options or help reduce the burden and stress on families. 

Q. Do you plan on creating any more research for LLS?

A. I am working on a research paper right now that I’m going to be submitting to Texas Children’s Hospital about LLS and new treatment options and plans that they could explore. 

Q. Do you plan on creating a leadership team or expanding your current boundaries on fundraising?

A. LLS is a nationwide organization, so it already has teams everywhere. There’s some at Tompkins; there’s some pretty much everywhere. So for us, I’m the first person to bring it to Seven Lakes, but hopefully after my candidacy, I’ll help another student in our school. I’ll nominate them, and we can get it started again next year and so on so forth. 

Click here to donate and see more about Anushka’s Students of the Year Fundraiser