This month, Whitman raised $91,761 to win the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s high school challenge. The total was the highest in the nation.

The total, which far exceeded leadership’s original goal of raising $60,000, beat rival Walter Johnson’s for the first time.

“It’s more than just winning a game against WJ,” class president Jacob Rosenblum said. “Together, we raised more than $171,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Everyone is working together to cure cancer, which is amazing.”

Whitman also won the Trailblazer Cup for the Red Rush 5K. The cup is an award for the most creative Leukemia & Lymphoma event and includes a $1,000 donation to the winning school’s total. The award committee for the cup was impressed with Red Rush’s community involvement and creativity.

Senior president Valerie Acker cited the community participation and competition with Walter Johnson as the reason the school managed to win the high school challenge.

“I’m so incredibly proud of the Whitman community,” Acker said. “Every day, I’d get questions from classmates who wanted to know how much we were raising, how they could get involved. Everyone went above and beyond.”

For Rosenblum, the satisfaction of raising money for a disease that so affected the school community was the best part of Leukemia & Lymphoma month.

“We’ve had a lot of tragedy in our community because of this disease,” he said. “To know that we were able to raise this much to work for a cure is so satisfying.”