The second annual Staff-Student Talent Show will be held on Thursday, May 20. There will be two performances, one at 5 PM and one at 7 PM.

“We have got an amazing collection of acts,” said biology teacher Helen Rainoff, who is co-organizing the event with chemistry teacher Corey Lowen.

These acts will include a juggling performance by Jonah Greenawalt and a teacher dance including Ms. Lowen, Ms. Imbornone, Mr. Gavin, Ms. Thompson, Ms. Picket, Ms. Coughlin, and Ms. Florez.

Wayland High School’s all-male a cappella group, the T-Tones, will make an appearance, as well as student and student-staff bands. English teacher David Rockermann will play guitar in a student-staff band called Project Me-1, while librarian Ms. Dalbec, physics teacher Gordon Ruggaber, and students Jade Donaldson, Lowell Glovsky and Emma Gimlich will join forces as Dewey and the Decimals.

There will be a belly dancing performance by WHS alum Alison von Rohr. Vice Principal Klimasmith will take to the stage to play guitar with students, and Principal Tutwiler will serve as MC.

“The purpose is to have it as a fundraiser for cancer research and to continue the tradition of community building from last year,” said Ms. Rainoff. “We have students working with other students, students who are not normally on stage, and staff-student collaborations.”

The event is also a chance to “showcase talent, the people who are not normally on stage”, as Rainoff puts it.

All money raised from the talent show will be given to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Lymphoma Research Foundation. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) is a voluntary health organization dedicated to education and cancer research. Since 1954, it has been raised over $680 million in research funding.

The Lymphoma Research Foundation was by the 2001 merge of the Cure For Lymphoma Foundation and the Lymphoma Research Foundation of America. It is an organization devoted to providing patients with information about the disease as well as funding lymphoma research.

Rainoff has a personal connection to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society because she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when she was in her late twenties.

The disease became increasingly serious as the years went on, but thanks to special treatments developed with the help of funds raised from the organizations like the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, her condition improved and she was been in remission since 1998.

This year, Rainoff and Ms. Lowen will be running the 7-mile Falmouth Road Race on August 15th to raise money for the Lymphoma Research Foundation. It will be their second year running the race together.

Rainoff will also be running in the Nation’s Triathlon in Washington D.C. on September 12th with Team in Training to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The Triathlon will  consist of a one mile swim, a 25 mile bike-ride and a 6.2 mile run.

Tickets for the show will be on sale in the Commons this week during all lunches. They are $10 for students and $15 for adults.

Outside donations can be made to support both Ms. Rainoff and Ms. Lowen’s race efforts in August and Ms. Rainoff’s September Triathlon race at this link.