We are really excited to announce the Relay For Life Otago Students is back for another year on University of Otago campus! The event will be the 7pm – 7am Saturday 29 - 30 March 2025.

Please share this far and wide and put this into your calendars, as we hope that students and staff are also looking forward to being involved in this great event once again. This is a great opportunity for Year 13’s, Prefects or community engagement groups to get involved and have a connection with giving back to the community in a Tertiary setting.

The Cancer Society’s Relay for Life

Relay For Life is community fundraising event that brings friends, whānau, schools, and workplaces together to Celebrate – Whakanui those affected by cancer and their incredible carers; Remember – Maumaharatia loved ones lost to cancer; and Fight Back - Tū atu by raising awareness and funds for the Cancer Society. At Relay, teams take to the track to keep their team baton moving to symbolise our community’s unstoppable fight against cancer. To keep the energy alive, the event will have loads of special performances, awesome activities, good music, and even better food!

You can find out more info at https://relayforlife.org.nz/. The Otago Student relay is the only ‘student run relay’ in New Zealand. The organising committee will consist solely of University and Polytechnic students, with guidance from the Cancer Society. This is an exciting opportunity for the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic communities as it creates a lot of positive media attention.

As we alternate each year between the Otago Students and Dunedin Relay For Life event, this Otago Student relay is specifically aimed at staff and students at the University of Otago and the Otago Polytechnic. We were astounded to fundraise $129,000 in 2023 and this year, we aim to fundraise over $130,000!

What can you do?

Registrations are open so you can sign up now or start recruiting your interest with students and staff. A lot of halls of residence pay or subsidise the registration costs so this is also something you might want to consider doing. Flick me an email if you want me to set up a registration code for your students, so you can be invoiced after the event. Registration will be only $20 per person (includes overnight camping spot for your team, entertainment, snacks & a candle bag to decorate and place). It will then be key to start planning fundraising activities with your teams in the lead up to the event and we have always found the students are very creative when it comes to fundraising, which is great to see!

Please see attached digital copies of our poster and flyers that can send around or print off to help spread the word! Let me know if you have any questions, otherwise we hope your school will get involved with the amazing community event to support people and families affected by cancer.

Kind regards

In this issue

Oral Community Health Snippet