Coventry High School Student Donates College Scholarship to Another Student Battling Cancer

COVENTRY, RT—Dakota Grenier, a Coventry resident and a senior at Bay View Academy, didn’t enter into the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Student of the Year competition to build her resume for college applications—she had already signed her Letter of Intent to row at the University of Rhode Island.

And she didn’t do it for the potential $5,000 scholarship. She wanted to raise money to "knock out cancer," she said, because for her, it's personal: her mom is a survivor of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

On Tuesday, Grenier was awarded a $2,500 scholarship prize after coming in second place. She and the other students taking part in the Student of the Year competition were raising money and she came just shy of first, raising a whopping total of $34,668.22 in six weeks.

While she didn't take home the grand prize, she did earn the society's Mission Award for "most closely living the mission of the LLS, to 'cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families,'" according to a release.

With the Mission Award came a $2,500 scholarship prize. At the LLS Student of the Year Awards Ceremony on Feb. 27, Grenier stood up to receive her award and announced instead that she’d be giving it away. She said she had recently met a fellow high school student who lives in West Warwick and is fighting her own battle with leukemia. Her desire was to give the money to her, to fund her college education fund.

Grenier's fundraising was part of a whirlwind of money-raising by a team at Bay View Academy in East Providence, along with Bishop Hendricken in Warwick, plus a hometown friend from Coventry.

Grenier said she couldn't have raised so much money without the support of the team behind her. Before it all began, she said that she'd share whatever winnings came her way evenly with the team.

On the night of the awards ceremony, she told the team that she'd be donating her share to the West Warwick student. They all signed on to do the same.

In a release, Grenier's school describes her as “a force to be reckoned with.”

"She’s not only the Student Council President, but also on the rowing and basketball teams and is a member of the Athletic Leadership Group," the release stated. "She is a Peer Minister, School Ambassador, and a member of the Mu Alpha Theta Mathematics Honor Society and the National Honor Society. And, she gives her all to every sport, club and society."

In order to tackle the fundraising challenge for the Student of the Year competition, Dakota surrounded herself with a team of supporters, including Bay View History and Social Sciences Teacher, Nicole Buco (Warwick, RI), and Bay View School Counselor, Drea Harms (Plainville, MA). She was joined by six Bay View students: Jenna Costantino (Warwick, RI), Haley Lecomte (West Greenwich, RI), Mikaela Lee (North Scituate, RI), Anne Madeiros (Carolina, RI), Alexia Mattos (Saunderstown, RI), and Sarah Underwood (East Providence, RI). Plus, two Bishop Hendricken students agreed to lend a hand. They are Matthew Ricci (Coventry, RI) and Matthew Sweeney (Cranston, RI). Additionally, a hometown friend, Sabryna Nobrega (Coventry, RI), joined #TeamDakota.

To raise money, they sold T-shirts, led dress-down days, hosted a mixer with DJ Jessica from 92PRO FM, organized a dodgeball competition and produced a comedy night.

Every Bay View family got personal letters and the Lower and Middle schools at Bay View joined with bake sales for her campaign.

Grenier's impressive work on behalf of LLS is preceded by years of much the same. She held a bake sale for the American Cancer Society and volunteered at Camp Dotty last summer.

Camp Dotty is a week-long camp for oncology patients and their siblings and she developed a powerful bond with a little boy who won a battle against leukemia. He inspired her to donate 12 inches of her hair to make wigs for women battling cancer.

The Student of the Year competition was a way to honor her mom and campers from Camp Dotty, she said. And the mission continues: Grenier is currently interning with LLS and is helping the the campaign manager for both the Man & Woman and Student of the Year competitions, Carla Mulhern, on the next fundraising push.

Grenier plans to study nursing at the University of Rhode Island in the fall and hopes to be a nurse practicioner with a focus on pediactric oncology.

“Words cannot express how grateful I am for the overwhelming support from my peers, school and community,” she said. “With every dollar we raise, we are one step closer to finding a cure.”

For more information on Dakota’s campaign and to read her essay, “Battle Bun,” visit her LLS Fundraising site at http://events.lls.org/pages/ri/2016SOYRI/dgrenier.

Photo captions:

Photo 1: Dakota Grenier, and her mother, Holly, at the 2015 Bay View Mother Daughter Brunch. Credit: Chestnut Hill Studios

Photo 2: Team Dakota. Back row, from left to right: Haley Lecomte, Matt Sweeney, Dakota Grenier, Matt Ricci, Mikaela Lee. Front row: Anne Madeiros, Sarah Underwood, Alexia Mattos, Sabryna Nobrega. (Jenna Costantino absent from photo)

Photo 3: Dakota receives a check denoting her fundraising total on March 15th at Bay View Academy. Credit: Lori DesVergnes