Jenna Larson spent Saturday afternoon into yesterday morning taking her turn walking around a track to help in the fight against cancer. Larson was not alone in her walk.

More than 100 teams of Penn State students and State College residents joined her at the Penn State Agricultural Fields to participate in Relay for Life, which raised more than last year's total of $70,000. The group is still calculating the total and is accepting donations through this week.

Relay for Life is an overnight event in which participants walk relay-style around a track for 24 hours, with at least one team member walking at all times. The event is held annually across the country with the goal of raising money for the American Cancer Society. This is Penn State's third year participating in the event.

While the event usually lasts 24 hours, the rainy weather and freezing temperatures became a health and safety hazard to the participants, forcing the event to end early yesterday. Jackie Pinsky (senior-health policy and administration), the overall chairwoman of the event, said the tents people were sleeping in had flooded with water, and after consultation with the police department, organizers decided to give participants the option of going home early.

On Saturday, the event was kicked off with an opening ceremony that included a speech from Larson, a Penn State student that fought and survived cancer.

Larson (sophomore-hotel, restaurant, and institutional management) was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma during the fall semester of her freshman year at Penn State, and despite many obstacles, continued taking classes.

"While cancer is horrible, I wouldn't change the fact that I had it," Larson said. "I learned so much from having cancer, like not to let the little things in life bother you."

When participants were not walking, they could be found in their tents playing cards, eating food and just keeping each other company. Many of the tents were decorated with a theme for the event. One tent had a Roman theme that included a sign stating: "Veni, Vidi, Vici. We came, we saw, we conquered."

Throughout the afternoon participants gave donations in order to decorate white paper bags with the names of people they knew who fought or died from cancer. The bags were placed around the track and filled with candles at sundown for the luminaria ceremony. Paper bags were also placed on the hillside to spell out the word "hope."

During the luminaria ceremony, many shed tears during a slideshow depicting pictures of people who had fought cancer. Many of the pictures were of those that did not win the battle.

Dolores Invovina, a breast cancer survivor who has been in remission for 25 years and grandmother of a Penn State student, spoke during the ceremony alongside other breast cancer survivors.

"Cancer is not welcome in my life. Friends and family that support me are," Invovina said.

After the luminaria ceremony all those attending who survived cancer led a survivor lap.