ROCKINGHAM — An annual tradition will continue with a new twist at Raider Stadium on Friday night.
“Pink Night” has been an event celebrated once a year at Richmond Senior High School football games since 2012 as a way to raise awareness about cancer.
It was started by former students Tayler Brown and Hollie Hudson, who wanted to show support for their yearbook teacher Cathy Keys after she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Every year since then, t-shirts are sold and banners are hung inside Raider Stadium during an October football game.
Even with no football this fall because of the pandemic, members of Richmond’s beta club and senior senate didn’t want the tradition to be lost.
On Friday, the school will be hosting a “Pink Night” light show to honor people who have been impacted by cancer. Set to begin at 7:30 p.m., it’s the next edition of “Friday Night Lights,” an initiative started last spring to help the student body and the community stay connected during the pandemic.
Suzanne Hudson, who is an adviser for the beta club, said students and teachers wanted to show support for all cancers this fall. The shirt for this year reads “even apart we fight together” and has pink and lavender incorporated in the text.
To make Friday’s event even more special, Hudson said students will walk the track around the football field to honor those who have battled cancer.
“Our students are encouraged to meet at the stadium, wear their ‘Pink Night’ shirt and decorate posters honoring those impacted by cancer,” Hudson said. “At 7:45 p.m. we will line up, in a socially distant manner, and take a lap or two around the track.
“We will also have luminaries in the stadium and will walk one lap with luminary glow sticks and the lights out. I hope (community members) will consider joining us,” she added.
Kaicie Medina, a senior at Richmond who is involved in both beta club and senior senate, has been one of the many students behind the effort to make this year’s Pink Night a success.
Assisting her with setting up the banners and writing names on the luminaries have been fellow seniors Georgia Grace Anderson, Carissa Byrne, Macy Faw, Elena Hall, Maggi King, Jaxon Mabe, Dhruvil Patel, Natalie Pattan and Alex Yates.
Juniors Stephanie Alvarado and Lauren Hudson, along with sophomore Ashley Murphy, joined the seniors for Friday’s set up. Jayla McDougald and Chloe Monroe have been behind the advertising, creating flyers and helping spread the word.
“I think it was important to keep Pink Night going because even in previous years it hasn’t been about football, it’s been about cancer,” Medina said. “The football season has been postponed but the same doesn’t apply to cancer. It’s important to us that we recognize those in our community who have been affected and they know we support them.
“This year we decided to do luminaries with names of those who have been affected by any type of cancer,” she explained. “We also decided to hang posters outside of the stadium for people to see throughout the day as they drive by on US 1.”
