Middle school is mostly about growing – growing up, growing our academic capabilities, and about growing our horizons. Our teachers have done a great job nurturing us, enriching us, inspiring us to reach farther, and most of all, to never ever give up! In seventh grade, I joined a service group called LEO. To me LEO was about broadening my horizons, about making experiences that would form my personality. We learned to give back to the community, to step up and be leaders, to gain respect for the others around us, and to think about the positive things in life. On June 12th and 13th my fellow LEO friends and I participated in the “Relay for Life” at Simsbury High School. We had been planning and preparing for this event since the beginning of the year. We coordinated car washes, numerous bake sales and sold a couple hundred of Kam’s orange bracelets. On- and offline we raised over 880 dollars for the American Cancer Society to raise cancer awareness to help find a cure, giving sick people hope and strength to survive another birthday. At the Relay for Life we all set up our camping tents and set off walking on the track. Our team of girls walked all day and all night long, adding a bead to our necklaces for every completed lap. At the very emotional luminaria ceremony late night we honored those who had cancer and either passed away or fought the dreadful disease. It was a very emotional moment for me with hundreds of candles lighting up the track. As we walked a silent lap, my best friends and I, hand in hand, tears streaming down our faces forced smiles to each other knowing that what we had accomplished had been indescribable.