Alana Okun and Sam Snyder’s story about their preparation for the 4K run was the 10th most read Cherry Hill Sun story in 2018.
Editor’s Note: This is part of a countdown of the top 10 most read stories on www.cherryhillsun.com in 2018. This story was the 10th most read.
One of The Cherry Hill Sun’s most read stories of 2018 was also one of the first stories to run following the New Year. In January, The Sun’s Mike Monostra interviewed Alana Okun, a junior at The College of New Jersey, and Sam Snyder, a junior at Rutgers University, as they prepared to take part in the Ulman Cancer Fund’s 4K for Cancer.
This wasn’t the first time The Sun had written about local residents participating in the event. In 2017, another resident, Mollie Taylor, was featured for her participating in the 4K for Cancer and that story was also widely read in the Cherry Hill community. Okun was one of the many residents who heard about Taylor’s story and said it inspired her to participate in this year’s event.
“When (Taylor) arrived in Baltimore at the end of her run, she put a bunch of pictures of it,” Okun said. “I read about the program and thought it would be amazing.”
Okun would convince her friend and fellow Cherry Hill East alum, Snyder, to also participate in the event. Snyder was happy to, even though he hadn’t run competitively in the past. Okun had run cross country at Cherry Hill East.
“I was never into running growing up, and actually played goalie in soccer for 10 years so I didn’t have to run,” Snyder said. “But one night during my sophomore year, I was really stressed about an upcoming organic chemistry exam and decided to go on a run to blow off steam. I really enjoyed the mental break and time to myself to have my own thoughts, so I decided to pick it up as a hobby.”
Snyder talked of how cancer had impacted his family directly, saying his grandmother was being treated for Hodgkin Lymphoma at the time of the article and his grandfather had died at a young age from brain cancer when his mom was just 9 years old.
“I will be dedicating my run to my grandfather’s memory and my grandmother’s current battle, amongst the numerous other friends and family members that have been affected my cancer who I will also be running for,” Snyder said.
Okun said one of the things she was looking forward to most was visiting cancer centers to provide support to patients and families throughout the route, which stretched from San Francisco to Boston.
“That’s one of the most important things for me,” she said. “It’s a great way to reach out to the community you are in.”
In all, Okun and Snyder raised more than $10,000 combined Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults an were honored with resolutions from the State Senate and General Assembly in the months leading up to their run over the summer.
To read the full story, visit https://cherryhillsun.com/two-cherry-hill-college-students-preparing-to-run-across-the-country-in-support-of-ulman-cancer-4a094292e27f
