Student Movement Against Cancer (SMAC)

Student Movement Against Cancer (SMAC) Official account of the National Student Movement Against Cancer Organization. Established in 2001.

Hey chapter leaders! Welcome back!! …your copy of September’s Student Spark is waiting!SMAC’s e-newsletter went out to c...
09/01/2026

Hey chapter leaders! Welcome back!!

…your copy of September’s Student Spark is waiting!

SMAC’s e-newsletter went out to chapter emails this morning, and it’s got resources and updates you won’t want to miss. Take a few minutes to read through it before the week gets away from you

Leaders: unsure of your chapter’s gmail login? Drop Danielle a message and she’ll help you get in!

✌️ out, cancer!

⚠️ Big news: SMAC is back at Stop & Shop 🛍For the THIRD time this year, Student Movement Against Cancer (SMAC) has been ...
09/01/2026

⚠️ Big news: SMAC is back at Stop & Shop 🛍

For the THIRD time this year, Student Movement Against Cancer (SMAC) has been selected as the beneficiary of Stop & Shop's Community Bag Program at the Westfield location (219 Elm Street). All of September, every $2.50 reusable Community Bag sold sends $1 directly to SMAC!

That's it. Shop your groceries. Grab a bag. Make a difference.

Head to Stop & Shop in Westfield, NJ this month and pick one up ... and tell your friends and family to do the same. Every bag counts!

✌ out, cancer!

Back to school season is our FAVORITE season 📚✏️🚌Today’s comes from Northern Valley Regional High School in Old Tappan...
08/27/2026

Back to school season is our FAVORITE season 📚✏️🚌

Today’s comes from Northern Valley Regional High School in Old Tappan, New Jersey. From club fairs to e-board planning sessions, group chats to September general member meetings, we can’t get enough of this time of year! We can almost smell those early bake sales from here 🧁

Cheers to another school year filled with cancer awareness and community!

✌️out, cancer!

ps - if you’re seeing this and don’t have a SMAC chapter to join or support, DM us! Let’s get things started!!

studentclub

08/21/2026

Congratulations to Olivia, recipient of the 2026 Miriam Miller Scholarship for Cancer Advocacy and Research!

The Miriam Miller Scholarship honors a gifted artist, compassionate healer, and lifelong learner, celebrating students who are intellectually curious, deeply compassionate, and passionately committed to the arts. To read Olivia's story is to understand immediately why she was chosen. She is, in every dimension, a living reflection of Miriam's spirit.

Olivia is a pianist and violinist who has performed solo at Carnegie Hall four times, won six international competitions, studied under world-renowned musicians at the Euro Arts Festival in Poland, and earned the ABRSM Level Eight distinction award. Music, for Olivia, is not a hobby. It is a calling, one she has answered at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she contributed 200+ hours of musical therapy in the Infusion Unit, sitting with patients during treatment and supporting grieving families through the Paper Crane Project. She has turned her art into medicine, and her talent into comfort for those who need it most.

And then there is her science, which is extraordinary by any measure. A Regeneron Science Talent Search Top 300 Scholar. The first student in Kent Place School history to reach the ISEF Trip Award finals, placing her in the top 1% of high school researchers nationwide. A Cleveland Clinic researcher whose machine learning model analyzing tumor DNA in metastatic breast cancer surpassed the international benchmark. A breast cancer lipidomics researcher at the Center for Discovery and Innovation. The inventor and founder of CryoSense Gloves, a double-layered cryotherapy glove addressing neuropathy in chemotherapy patients, developed in partnership with a Johns Hopkins biomedical engineering professor and generating 4K+ monthly engagements on Amazon.

Miriam Miller was a gifted artist, a compassionate healer, and a lifelong learner. Olivia is all three — simultaneously, completely, and brilliantly. We are in awe of everything you are and everything you will become!

✌ out, cancer!

08/20/2026

Congratulations to Michael, recipient of the 2026 Nabil Joseph Mattar Scholarship!

This award honors the strength, compassion, and resilience of those personally impacted by cancer, and Mike is the embodiment of everything it represents. His commitment to the fight against cancer isn't something he picked up along the way. It's something he has carried his whole life as a cancer survivor himself. Since 2012, he began volunteering with The Valerie Fund and Jam Kancer in the Kan. Over the years, that commitment grew into something extraordinary, helping raise over $100,000 for children's cancer nonprofits, one event at a time.

At Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, Mike channeled that same passion into SMAC, rising from Membership Chair to Vice President to Co-President — leading the Executive Board, directing fundraising and awareness campaigns, and showing up for his chapter at every level. But his impact doesn't stop there. As Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Fanscotian, a mentor with the Henrik Lundqvist Foundation, a TOPSoccer buddy for children with disabilities, and a peer tutor, MIke has made it his life's work to show up for others in every room he enters.

A National Honor Society member, AP Scholar, and Seal of Biliteracy recipient, Mike brings excellence to everything he does, including the baseball analytics and sports media work he pursued at Seton Hall University, and his current internship with the Westchester Soccer Club.

Mike, you turned your experiences into purpose, and your purpose into impact. The Mattar family, and your SMAC family, are so proud!

✌ out, cancer!

08/19/2026

Congratulations to Tessa, recipient of the 2026 Katz Family Scholarship!

The Katz Family Scholarship honors students who embody a commitment to giving back, a dedication to higher education and achievement, and a passion for living life to the fullest. Tessa Philbin carries all of that ... and she carries something else too. She carries her mom.

Tessa lost her mother to cancer. And rather than let that loss diminish her, she let it define her purpose. She channeled her grief into action, completing a 6-week research internship at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the nation's leading cancer institutions, where she worked in Dr. David Goodrich's lab on genetic deletions to prevent prostate cancer progression and presented her findings at the Summer Research Symposium. For Tessa, this work is not academic. It is personal in the most profound way.

Beyond her research, Tessa lives with a fullness and generosity that feels like a tribute to the mother she lost. She is a third-degree black belt and 13-year martial artist who teaches children and adults at Buffalo World Class Taekwondo. A Section VI Championship varsity soccer player. A Student Council Vice President. A symphonic band musician. A TOPSoccer volunteer for children with disabilities. A Senior Citizen Prom organizer. A consistent presence wherever she is needed, giving her time, her energy, and her heart without hesitation.

Tessa lives fully. She gives generously. She fights hard. And she does all of it with her mom in her heart every step of the way.

We are so proud of you, Tessa!

✌ out, cancer!

08/18/2026

Congratulations to Jai, a 2026 SMAC Cancer Fighter Scholarship recipient!

Jai doesn't just care about the fight against cancer, he has planted himself squarely in the middle of it, doing the hard scientific work that could one day change outcomes for patients around the world.

As a high school student at Tampa Preparatory School, Jai completed an 8-week paid research internship at Moffitt Cancer Center's Integrated Mathematical Oncology department, where he worked on modeling the scheduling of TIL Adoptive Cell Therapy using histologic images to treat Urothelial Carcinoma. He then went on to contribute to an NIH-funded research program at USF's Voice Center, exploring voice as a biomarker for health. These are not extracurriculars. This is real science, done at a real level.

As a Blood Cancer United Student Visionaries of the Year candidate, Jai raised $25,000 for blood cancer research and awareness, bringing the same drive and discipline to fundraising that he brings to everything else.

A National Merit Scholarship winner. AP Scholar with Distinction. Cum Laude Society member. Student Body President. 2x VEX Robotics State Champion and 4x World Championship Qualifier. Varsity golf captain. Competitive pianist performing at school and community events since 2018. Youth robotics coach. Community volunteer. The list goes on ... and somehow, it all coheres into one remarkable human being.

Jai is heading to Duke University, and if his high school years are any indication, the impact he'll have from here is something we can barely imagine. We are so proud to celebrate him!

✌ out, cancer!

08/17/2026

Congratulations to Payton, a 2026 SMAC Cancer Fighter Scholarship recipient!

Payton Oakley has been a cancer fighter since before she could fully understand what that meant.

As a toddler, Payton faced cancer and won. She grew up carrying that history quietly, and then spent the rest of her life proving, in every arena she entered, exactly what that kind of early resilience can grow into.

As President of the Liberty High School Class of 2026, Payton led her peers through one of the most meaningful chapters of their lives, chairing meetings, driving fundraising efforts, and bringing her class together for Homecoming, Prom, and Senior Picnic. She was also handpicked by her principal — the sole representative from her school — for the Outstanding Young Women Leaders Program, where she planned a large-scale community event and sharpened her skills in public speaking and professional leadership.

On the tennis court, aeyton is a champion ... Carroll County Girls' Doubles Champion, two-time Maryland Team State Champion, and Maryland 1A North Regional Champion. She earned those titles while maintaining a 4.2+ GPA for eight consecutive quarters, earning her Scholastic Letter, and being inducted simultaneously into the National Honor Society, National Art Honor Society, and Tri-M Music Honor Society in the same spring, a triple recognition that captures the full scope of who she is: scholar, athlete, artist, and leader all at once.

She has been fighting her whole life. And she has been winning her whole life too. We are so incredibly proud of you, Payton!

✌ out, cancer!

08/14/2026

Congratulations to Hannah, a 2026 SMAC Cancer Fighter Scholarship recipient!

Hannah Moses doesn't just fight cancer ... she has built an entire ecosystem around the effort.

As a Blood Cancer United Student Visionaries of the Year Co-Candidate, Hannah led a multi-state fundraising team to raise $50,000+ in just seven weeks, securing corporate sponsors including Warner Bros., Trammell Crow, and Gensler, and earning both the Mission and Research Awards. When her campaign ended, she didn't walk away. She stayed on as a Junior Leadership Committee Team Mentor, guiding the next wave of Visionaries teams, leading meetings, and supporting sponsorship outreach. Because for Hannah, this was never about a campaign. It was about the cause.

At UCLA, she was selected for the Research in Focus program, where she studied pancreatic cancer and KRAS resistance, collaborated on hypothesis development and data analysis, and took first place in a multi-school research competition. Back at Castaic High School, she founded and led a 30+ member Cancer Awareness Club, teaching cancer biology, mentoring student research projects, and hosting weekly meetings and guest speakers. And when she wanted to do more, she organized a district-wide cancer awareness symposium spanning three schools, recruiting judges, hosting an oncologist speaker, and creating a student research competition from scratch.

She even took cancer education to TikTok! As co-creator of PancreAction, a five-part educational series, Hannah translated complex pancreatic cancer research into content that young people could actually engage with and share.

Hannah is the rare kind of person who sees a gap and fills it: in cancer research, in her school, in her community, and on every field she competes on. We are so proud to celebrate her!

✌ out, cancer!

08/13/2026

Congratulations to Jackson, recipient of SMAC's 2026 Cynthia Davis Greene Memorial Scholarship!

This award honors the legacy of Cynthia Davis Greene, a woman who dedicated her life to helping others with generosity, determination, and heart. Jackson embodies every one of those qualities, and his story makes that clear from the very first page.

Since 2012, Jackson has shown up for children battling cancer through his volunteer work with Roc Solid Foundation, an organization that builds hope for families facing pediatric cancer through playsets and Ready Bag programs. It's exactly the kind of quiet, consistent, deeply human service that Cynthia Davis Greene represented: showing up not for recognition, but because it matters.

At Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, Jackson was selected as a member of KAPAC — the Kids as Partners Advisory Council — serving as a youth voice to improve the hospital experience for pediatric patients. He assembled surgery packets for children facing surgery and even suited up as the CHKD mascot, bringing smiles to kids and families on some of their hardest days.

In JROTC, Jackson rose to Operations Officer and was named a Top Performing Cadet, an honor reserved for the top 1–2% of all cadets nationally. He earned the Military Honor of the World Wars national award and was one of only eight students selected to represent his school at Virginia Boys State, a prestigious leadership and government program at Radford University.

A future Mechanical Engineering student at Old Dominion University, a National Honor Society member, and a young entrepreneur running his own landscaping business, Jackson brings the same dedication to everything he does.

Cynthia Davis Greene gave her time and energy to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others. So does Jackson. We are so proud to celebrate him!

✌ out, cancer!

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