The Department of Communication is working to defeat cancer - at the bowling alley.
The department is hosting its eighth annual Bowling For Scholars - A Strike Against Cancer bowl-a-thon from noon until 5 p.m. Saturday at Pro Bowl East, 2757 E. Grand River Ave., to raise money for communication scholarships and cancer research.
Aaron Boyson, a communication graduate student and co-chairman of the event, said the program has grown every year.
“We take Pro Bowl East and we just sort of quarantine it for a year,” he said. “They bowl, they raise money.”
Bowlers must donate a minimum of $30, for which they receive two games of bowling, including shoes, and a T-shirt.
People who raise the most money through pledges are entered to win prizes, which this year include two basketballs autographed by men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo.
The old scoreboard from Jenison Field House, former home to the MSU men’s and women’s basketball teams, will also be auctioned off.
For communication graduate student Lisa Massi, the event has personal significance. Her brother died of leukemia in 1998 at the age of 15.
“I try my hardest to participate in events and do things that will help to raise awareness and/or funding for research,” she said. “Knowing that you can help them is sometimes very comforting.”
Besides, Massi said, it’s a lot of fun.
“You don’t have to be an expert, which is a good thing,” she said laughing. “Because I’m an awful bowler.”
Proceeds from the event go toward a fund established in memory of communication Professor Gerald Miller, who died of cancer in 1993.
The fund serves two purposes, providing scholarships for communication students and providing funding to MSU’s Cancer Center.
“This is our way of remembering him and also trying to support two worthy causes in his name,” communication Professor Ron Tamborini said. “He was a wonderful person - a kind of person that’s as comfortable with paupers as princes.”
Tamborini is co-chairing the event with Boyson.
“We look at the event as kind of a friend-raiser as much as a fund-raiser,” he said. “We like to see this bring students closer to faculty.”
To register for the event, interested bowlers should call Ron Tamborini at 355-0178 or visit www.bowling.comm.msu.edu.
