It all started with a sick little girl and two seniors not sure of what they wanted to do with themselves. But despite a slow start, and a bumpy road with heartbreak towards the end of it, the journey turned out to be more than anyone had ever expected, an experience that not only transformed two seniors but that transformed an entire school.

Megan Dugan and Rachel Uricchio at East Lyme High School WISE EXPO

Rachel Uricchio and Megan Dugan, of Connecticut’s East Lyme High School, had no idea what they wanted to do for their WISE projects. They weren’t even sure they wanted to do a WISE project. Would it just be a waste of time? Another hurdle to jump over before receiving their high school diplomas? Then they heard about a little girl named Madeline, all of nine years old, who had been diagnosed with leukemia when she was four years old and whose leukemia had returned after a respite achieved through a bone marrow transplant. Maddie needed another and her family needed help in finding a donor. Maddie’s family also wanted to raise public awareness about the lack of contemporary research and medical protocols available to families whose children are battling cancer.

A Project with a Purpose                                                                                             Rachel and Megan had their first A-Ha! Moment. This was something they could do together. They could raise money for a bone marrow drive, raise awareness of the need for that bone marrow drive and maybe, just maybe, save a life. They plunged into planning for this with such intensity that their entire WISE class offered to help in any way, all the while completing their own WISE projects. After all, if one person could make a significant difference, two could make even more, and an entire school student body could clearly move mountains!

Fundraising for the Cure                                                                                                  The two set to work, pulling their mentor, Physical Education and Health instructor, Jen Brush, plus their WISE classmates, along with them. They found out everything they could about pediatric leukemia, bone marrow transplants, cancer treatment, fundraising and publicity. They raised not only funds but consciousness about the need for those funds through a variety of means.  They began in
the fall, selling “Roar On for Maddie” and “We Love Maddie” signs at East Lyme’s Homecoming football game. They then produced, and sold shirts, headbands and bracelets to raise funds for Maddie’s hard pressed family.  It was an easy leap from that to even larger fundraising
efforts, including a pasta dinner supported by the local LIONS Club and their WISE classmate and friend, Kate Taylor.  Finally just before December vacation, they persuaded the faculty producers of th
e traditional East Lyme Extravaganza to dedicate the proceeds from the service event to their cause.

Changing the Culture of a School                                                                                   The Extravaganza was a memorable one, with virtually every student decked out in the “Roar on for Maddie” t-shirts. It was “a sea of orange”, Megan remembered. And it changed the culture of the school. From that moment on, every East Lyme student was part of the Roar On for Maddie movement.

A Changing Project                           When Rachel and Megan started their WISE projects, they had intended it to be a semester project. Then they would be done. But that was not to be. They were too involved to just drop it halfway through the school year. So “United We Roar” became a full year endeavor. They became more invested in finding even more about pediatric cancer and the needs and desires of the young patients. They went to Yale New Haven’s Children’s Hospital to assess the needs firsthand. They made a cuddly, comforting, blanket for Maddie, then decided to make more blankets for the other children there who could also find comfort in them. And when, terribly, Maddie started getting sicker, succumbing in the spring to a new cancer that sprang up from the treatment she had received a few years before, they comforted each other and Maddie’s family by doubling down on their efforts. Now they would focus on raising public awareness of pediatric cancer and on the need for bone marrow drives and fundraising to combat it.

An Amazing Year                                                                                                                  At the East Lyme High School WISE Exposition given on Wednesday, May 25th, Rachel and Megan spoke of the amazing year that they had had. The experience had changed both of them forever. They had run the gauntlet, from exhilaration over the incredible success of their fund and consciousness raising to the devastation of losing “their Maddie” to yet[[[ another cancer. They had spearheaded a school-wide effort to make not one blanket for Maddie but 173 blankets which they took to Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, stuffed into Jen Brush’s van, along with toys that were also delivered to the children there.  They put together a successful bone marrow registry drive on May 11th at the high school and collected donations of toys and blankets for sick children. They had created an assortment of successful fund raising ventures, raising $3500 first semester and then bettering that by raising $4000 second semester, and in so doing had succeeded in not just raising money but getting their school mates to care deeply about the cause in which they had invested so much.

WISE — the Highlight of their Senior Year                                                                      For two girls who had been skeptical about WISE to begin with, it was an amazing finish. And WISE, they said, turned out to be the most memorable, the most exciting, the very best part of their senior year.