By Skagway School students Frankie Kollasch, Gracie Reddick and Logan Rupperecht, grade 6

Skagway School student Mina Yee, age 11, participated in raising money for the Fran DeLisle Cancer Fund. Mina chose the organization because, “I know the Fran DeLisle Cancer Fund supports people in Skagway that have cancer, and some of our friends have been diagnosed with cancer, and I wanted to help them out.”

Yee had previously hiked to Upper Dewey Lake with her father every week so they decided to turn the hike into a fundraiser. Yee ended up with 110 sponsors and raised over $8,000 by hiking to Upper Lake every Wednesday starting on July 14 and ending on Aug. 31, for a total of eight trips.

At first, Mina stated, “I was pretty slow, maybe 2.5 hours, but I cut it down to two hours up, hung out there, and then two hours down.” 

She saw mountain goats and grouse, but did not see any bears since they had a big black dog. Her dad was most likely to be her hiking partner, but there were also some friends that went with her.

Yee is not sure if she will continue doing this fundraiser annually, but felt “it was a good time to do it this year because the Fran DeLisle Cancer Fund has not had its marathon fundraiser happen for several years.” 

Yee’s favorite part of the fundraiser was, “getting to the top and seeing the beauty of Upper Lake.”