Senior carves niche as Berkshire Relay leader

Thursday, May 08, 2008

By Josh Echt

Just keep carving.

Miranda Carver is just trying to slice her way through life, day by day, hour by hour.

It's not easy for the Berkshire senior, but it's worth every minute.

Schoolwork.

College applications.

The usual senior stuff like prom and graduation.

More schoolwork.

Keep carving. Keep slicing through her daily workload. Keep understanding the importance of her mother's three-year battle with breast cancer. Keep preparing her team for this Saturday's American Cancer Society Relay For Life fundraising walk at Cardinal High School.

And keep helping those affected by cancer, a condition responsible for the death of 7.6 million worldwide last year, according to the American Cancer Society Web site.

Keep carving.

Miranda is already 17, a few months shy of legal adulthood. But she's 17 easily going on 37, especially after she had to grow up fast when her mother fought and defeated cancer in 2004.

To her, managing the Berkshire High School Relay For Life team's 100-plus students is challenging, but not unbearable. She has faced darker days and negative nights before. What's a few more hours of work after what she dealt with almost seven years ago? And besides, her work with Relay isn't work. It's a passion.

Keep carving.

Miranda will lead the school's Relay team at this Saturday's Relay For Life at Middlefield High School. She is in charge of the students as part of the school's fundraising program. The team put on four to five fundraisers this year and has raised more than $10,000.

It all began in sixth grade. Summer 2001, right before her 11th birthday.

Her mother, Melinda, an operations manager for Progressive Insurance, was diagnosed with breast cancer, shocking the Claridon Township household.

"I had to grow up fast and take care of things at the house, such as doing daily chores," Miranda says. "I knew from the time I entered the 7th grade that I wanted to be involved in curing cancer, whether it be from a medical point or from a personal standpoint."

She got her chance two years later. Then-assistant principal Steve Ramos started up a fledgling Relay For Life team at Berkshire. Miranda graduated from her role as team assistant freshman year to team leader her sophomore year and headed a 10- to 15-student team.

"We raised almost $2,000 that year," she remembers. "The fundraisers were like bake sales and cake raffles."

Things went well her first two years. As a team leader, she talked to Ramos frequently and relayed information from him to her team. Then Ramos left before her junior year in fall 2006. So the group's future rested on her shoulders, assisted by faculty member Ellen Edeburn, who helps get the group's documents signed in her capacity as an adult advisor.

"After Ramos left, I thought the program was going to go away," says Berkshire Junior-Senior High School principal Steve Reedy. "But Miranda kept it going. She rolled up her sleeves and kept going.

"The district has to have an adult present at these events," he says. "We're proud of what she's done. Every one of us has been or knows someone who's been touched by cancer. Ellen is present as an advisor, but Miranda does most, if not all, of the grunt work."

Junior year's efforts netted about $5,000 for the now-flourishing Relay team by May 2007. Miranda made changes that year that streamlined the organization. Each of the school's eight teams normally need to come up with one small fundraiser as a basic requirement.

Keep carving.

"We had 100 people in eight teams that needed to be run and told what to do," she says. "So I decided to have everyone this year as one big team, doing four or five big projects, like a senior-faculty dodgeball game, during the year instead of a bunch of little ones. And besides, you get to watch the teachers get beat up."

Senior year featured Miranda taking the program to a new level: She invited 20 Burton Elementary students to participate. On top of that, she has to attend coordinator meetings with adults who are putting on the Relay program, such as Claridon Township resident Judy Maloney, who has known Miranda for 13 years.

Maloney is in her second year as an event chair for Middlefield Relay, but has participated in the relay five years of the program's six years of existence. Maloney volunteered at the school and met a young Miranda 13 years ago as a kindergarten student.

"I got involved with Relay because a friend of mine had cancer," Maloney says. "My son also is in Miranda's grade and has known her since they were both at Claridon Elementary."

Maloney will oversee everything for Saturday's event. She's doing her own carving when it comes to helping others affected by cancer.

"I do public relations," Maloney says. "I do logistics. I coordinate events with the Cardinal School District. I make sure everything is smooth and running."

Maloney says she is not surprised at what Carver has accomplished. She says Carver's outgoing personality is the key to her success.

"I could never ask for something, because I'm not a good saleswoman," Maloney adds. "Miranda, on the other hand, is not afraid to ask for donations. She's not afraid to tell them her mom is a cancer survivor."

Berkshire is in its fourth year of Relay. Nearby Cardinal School Dsitrict has had a Relay team all six years of the Relay For Life program.

Miranda said there's tons of misconceptions about Relay For Life, which is the world's largest fundraising walk, according to the American Cancer Society's Web site. Last year's efforts worldwide netted $405 million, according to the Web site.

"The public thinks its just one fundraiser," Miranda says. "It's a year-long thing. You fund-raise from September to May. Then you celebrate the work you've done over the past nine months. We honor our survivors and give them a luncheon."

This year's event will feature a softball game, information tables and other celebrations, including live music. And the walk, of course.

"It's a good time to come out and check out information about cancer and how to get help for it," she adds.

Her mother, Melinda, says her daughter is driven and empathetic.

Melinda has done her share of carving.

"It was a life-altering event for her when I was diagnosed in 2001," Melinda adds. "She had to take on a lot of responsibility, including taking care of her younger brother, Matthew, who was eight at the time. She had to do everything: Starting dinner, doing chores, running the house. The expectations of her changed at a young age."

Melinda also credits her husband, Patrick, and her supportive employer, Progressive, who let her work from her home, in her battle against cancer.

"Patrick worked for General Electric as an operator and would have to work the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, the third one," Melinda says. "He sacrificed hours of sleep and he would be lucky if he got three or four hours before going in to work. He also took care of the house and kids."

Melinda returned to Progressive in 2004 after she defeated the cancer. She says Miranda's outlook is mature for someone her age.

"I think she's so much more focused than I was at 17," Melinda says. "I think that's a generational thing. Kids today are more focused on where they want to be five or 10 years down the road. It never ceases to amaze me about the things she has accomplished."

Even with all the work, all the slicing through life, Miranda has been able to carve some relaxation time out for herself. But Relay work generates 10 hours of work a week. The workload doubles to 20 hours when Miranda's team is close to finishing fundraiser planning.

"Relay is my social life," she says. "As a senior I'd have to say this has really shaped my life in such a way I would never have had a high school experience if I wasn't involved."

Miranda also takes on roles as a staff writer for the Badger Pause, the school newspaper, and performs in the Badgers' marching band. Her nights off are spent supporting Badger sporting events. And don't forget her part-time job at the New York Deli and Grille in Chardon.

She will head south this fall to Marietta College and double major in public relations and biochemistry, with hopes of moving into medical school and into a role as a cancer specialist surgeon.

"When I was in seventh grade, I wanted to cure cancer," Miranda says. "But then this whole Relay For Life thing happened as a freshman. I just have a big passion for helping people and working. And I'll be happy wherever it takes me."

And somewhere down the road, a young woman named Miranda Carver may be the one to carve out a cure for cancer.