Wish week is coming up! This Friday Valor students were introduced to their wish week kid through a hyped assembly.

The true purpose of wish week is to bring awareness about a child suffering from a life-threatening illness, by making a dream of theirs come true. Wish week has been a tradition in Colorado since the Make-A-Wish Foundation, made a wish possible for Jennifer Mazak in 1983.

Jennifer Mazak was brought to her family in 1976, yet the happiness was short-lived because at 10 days old she was diagnosed with liver disease. The little girl bravely went through 18 surgical procedures. Nearing her end of life, a dream of hers came true, it was a simple wish to see the Kimn Chicken. Unfortunately, two weeks after this moment of pleasant bliss, Jennifer left her family heartbroken.

Her mother, Joan Mazak was so moved by having her daughter spend her last days in happiness that she decided to begin the Make-A-Wish Foundation Colorado Chapter. Despite being overwhelmed by Jennifer’s death, she knew doing this would bring the same happiness to the children who have to deal with serious medical illnesses. Today, the foundation has been able to make more than 5,000 wishes come true.

Now, how about Valor? Since the school was founded, Valor had no intentions of competing in fundraising until 2021. From 2021 to 2022, Valor managed to make 8 wishes come true including two girls highlighted in the last two wish weeks, Yliana and Sophia.

This year, the wish child Valor will be supporting is a little boy named Lewis. Lewis is a seven-year-old child battling cancer, residing in Parker Colorado. During the assembly on 3/31/23, we had the opportunity at the community to meet him. Here are a few things about him. He likes the color pink, he loves to eat french fries, and he dreams of being a paleontologist.

Knowing the complications of cancer, any day could be his last, so to ensure he is happy, Valor has very kindly decided to make a dream of his come true. This dream is to take a trip to Jurassic Park in Hawaii with his family.

The money needed to make this wish come true is sixty thousand dollars which is quite a hefty sum for one wish, but luckily for us, the Student Leadership Team has a list of fun activities planned out for students next week to help raise the amount of money in a fun and engaging way. During the week, at lunch, there will be fun activities including food, a volley of wishes which is a game of volleyball, a battle of the bands, and places where students can eat for dinner or lunch. All payments made by students and their families will be used for the donations for the trip.

Maryn Wyatt, a freshman at Valor, while referring to wish week excitedly said, “I know a lot about the Wish kid. He’s a little boy named Lewis and he has cancer. He wants to go to Jurassic Park!”

Later in the day, Gracie Prosceno, a junior at Valor, also added her thoughts on wish week. “I think it’s a really good thing. I think it will be a good opportunity for the privilege of this school to go serve and benefit somebody else.”

For Valor to participate in this is quite admirable. At this school there are all these resources available in life for us, so allowing someone dealing with cancer to be given this wish is a good chance for us to be aware of the difficulties of the world and to contribute to helping others.