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Nicole Torralba
Ms. Tillery
AP Literature
April 19, 2012
Senior Project Speech: Muscular Dystrophy Walk-a-thon
Close your eyes for just a moment. Imagine waking up one day and not being able to get
out of bed. All of a sudden you’ve lost the ability to walk because of a disease that causes your
muscle tissue to deteriorate. Can you picture yourself confined to a wheelchair or a leg brace for
the rest of your life? Simple activities that you might often take for granted such as climbing the
stairs and going to the bathroom will become a daily battle. Around 500-600 newborns are
diagnosed every year in the United States with this debilitating disease which is known to us as
Muscular Dystrophy. Good afternoon, my name is Nicole Torralba and my senior project was
organizing and hosting a Muscular Dystrophy Walk-a-thon. Ever since I was a little girl, I
always enjoyed playing doctor. As I grew up, playing doctor made me want to become an actual
doctor. To me, doctors are heroes and are inspirational to everyone around them. In choosing my
senior project, I knew that I wanted to do something in which I could give back to my
community and make an impact on someone’s life just like a doctor. I heard of Muscular
Dystrophy over the summer when I met the Muscular Dystrophy National Chairman, Luke
Christie. It was his bright attitude and upbeat spirit that inspired me. Although confined to a
wheelchair for the rest of his life, his sunny disposition didn’t even exhibit the pain that he was
going through. He was so welcoming and down-to-earth and I was amazed at his ability to exude
confidence and be proud of who he was as a person regardless of his disability. I knew from that

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encounter with Luke Christie that I wanted to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy. It was then
that I decided that I wanted to host a walk-a-thon.
Planning for a walk-a-thon was definitely a challenge. There were so many steps that I
had to go through to achieve my final product. First, I started off by making a checklist of
everything that I needed to accomplish along the way. Then, I started emailing local Muscular
Dystrophy representatives where I got in contact with Ms. Erin Dawkins and Ms. Angela Brown.
Both of them helped me tremendously by giving me suggestions of what to do with the walk-a-
thon. It was through them that I was able to invite two families affected with Muscular
Dystrophy to the walk-a-thon, the Schopmann and the Gunn family. Throughout my whole
project, I kept on emailing back and forth with Ms. Dawkins and Ms. Brown to keep them up to
date with everything that I was doing. Next, I talked to the high school Beta Club and asked for
their help on my project. As the Beta Club President, I established the walk-a-thon as our service
project of the year and from there, we started raising money by selling shamrocks during lunch
periods and asking for donations. After I garnered the support of the Beta Club, I knew that I had
to start advertising the walk-a-thon as much as I could. I thought a great opportunity to gain
publicity for the event was to hand out fliers during the Cherokee County Christmas Parade. I
signed up the Beta Club for the parade and I made posters for the members to hold and fliers for
some to pass out. The Parade was a huge success as we were able to give fliers to families who
seemed very interested and excited to attend the event. After that, I continued my publicity
efforts by putting up posters and fliers around the school. I also went to local businesses in the
area such as in the Kroger shopping center and the Canton Marketplace and put posters up there
as well. Shortly after, I posted yard stakes at every school, subdivision, and major intersection.
The yard stakes contain all the information about the event and it was great way to advertise

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about the walk-a-thon. I then talked to the Fire Department to ask for their assistance during the
walk-a-thon and if they could be on hand in case of an emergency. They agreed to do so and two
firefighters were present on the day of my event. I also asked them if they could put the
information of the event on the billboard in front of the Station and they graciously agreed to do
so which definitely allowed the walk-a-thon to receive more publicity as cars drove by the sign.
Then, I also made a Facebook event and invited all the people I knew to come to event. This
way, I was able to have a rough estimation of the amount of people I was expecting to come to
the walk-a-thon. The Facebook event also allowed me to keep everyone up to date and tell them
of any changes that came up. The weekend prior to the walk-a-thon, I went around to many
different stores asking for sponsorship and there were a lot of gracious donations made towards
the Muscular Dystrophy cause. One of the biggest donations I received came from Kroger in
which the managers donated 10 cases of twenty-four pack water and 8 boxes of eighteen pack
granola bars for the event. This was enough to feed everyone that came out on the day of the
walk-a-thon. It was a really kind gesture from Kroger to donate all of those refreshments at no
cost at all. The day before the walk-a-thon, I made a registration form and made a music playlist
for the event. I finalized all my details and by the day of the walk-a-thon, I had everything in
order. The walk-a-thon was a huge success. The Schopmann and the Gunn family had an
amazing time and everyone that went was touched by the two families. A lot of people told me
that the families inspired them and they learned so much from the event and have realized how
blessed they truly are. They were all very glad that they attended the event and were able to help
me raise money for Muscular Dystrophy. Along with donations, shamrock sales, and the
Muscular Dystrophy walk-a-thon, I was able to raise $2,400 to fund the research for the cure for
Muscular Dystrophy. At the Beta Club convention in March, Ms. Angela Brown presented me

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with a certificate for organizing and hosting the walk-a-thon. She also mentioned Creekview
High school in her speech and called us the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s “lucky charm.” It
was definitely a huge honor to be recognized in front of all the Beta Clubs in the State of
Georgia. The money I raised from the walk-a-thon will allow me to send 3 children with
Muscular Dystrophy to MDA summer camp. I will be able to touch their lives and make a
difference through my senior project and I am so happy with how everything turned out in the
end.
Achieving my final product didn’t come without any problems. I ran into quite a few
challenges along the way. One of the biggest problems that I encountered was that I could not
find a place where I could print t-shirts for the walk-a-thon and to also print the yard stakes that
would advertise the event. I went around town to every printing shop I saw, but in every shop,
the price was way too high for the budget I had. I set my budget at around $500 and I definitely
didn’t want to exceed that number since my parents were paying for all the costs of my project. I
found a number of a printing shop on a billboard and called that number, but again the price was
absolutely unreasonable. After a lot of researching and asking around, I finally found Chandler
Graphics. They provided me the opportunity to print the t-shirts and the yard stakes all at a cost
of about $500 which was exactly what I was aiming for. They also helped me pick the t-shirt and
yard stake design which made it much easier for me. The end result was a very good looking
shirt and a wonderful yard stake as you can see here. Another problem that I faced was time.
With such a huge event, time is everything and at moments I felt I didn’t have enough of it. Time
just seemed to slip by so fast every month that a lot of items on my checklist started piling up. It
was definitely stressful trying to get myself back on track, but I managed to get everything
organized and done on time for the walk-a-thon.

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Along with all the problems that I encountered, I also had to make a couple changes to
my project. The biggest change I made was changing the location of my event. Originally, the
walk-a-thon was supposed to be held at the football stadium. Unfortunately, due to inclement
weather conditions the day of the walk-a-thon, I had to find another place to host the event. I
knew that I didn’t want to cancel the event because there were so many people who had already
told me they would be coming and I didn’t want the weather to put a damper on everything. Mrs.
Orfale and I searched the school for a place where we could hold the walk-a-thon. At the time,
there was a basketball tournament going on so we definitely couldn’t use the gym. Fortunately,
the cafeteria was not being used so we decided to move the walk-a-thon into the cafeteria. I was
definitely a little nervous that people weren’t going to show up, but there was definitely nothing
to be worried about as everyone found their way to the cafeteria and together we raised a lot of
money even with the horrible weather outside. The Cherokee Connection actually recognized the
walk-a-thon in a brief article on their online newspaper where they mentioned the rainstorm that
caused me to move the walk-a-thon inside to the cafeteria. I was very honored that they took the
time to write an article about my walk-a-thon.
My facilitator was Mrs. Linda Orfale. She is the 10th grade English teacher here at
Creekview High School. I chose her as my facilitator because she has had prior experience
hosting walk-a-thons. Just last year, she was the main sponsor for Creekview’s 1st ever Muscular
Dystrophy walk-a-thon. With that in mind, I knew she was the perfect facilitator for my senior
project. She was an essential part to the success of my project. I would have been lost without
her. She kept me on track and reassured me whenever I was stressed out or unsure of what to do.
She took charge very well and I could rely on her whenever I had a question or a problem with

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the project. I am extremely grateful for her help. She was a great, hands-on facilitator and I
definitely could not have had such a great outcome with the walk-a-thon if it wasn’t for her.
The research paper I wrote last semester most definitely helped me with my final product.
I wrote my research paper over the Muscular Dystrophy disease. I believe this allowed me to
really understand the full extent of the disease. One very interesting that I found out was that
most children diagnosed with the disease don’t past live past their teenage years. This really
affected me and saddened me greatly. When I read this piece of information, I was so taken
aback and inspired to work as hard as I could to make the walk-a-thon as successful as possible
so that the money I raise can hopefully find a cure for these children. Through my research, I
also found many organizations that raise money for Muscular Dystrophy and it was from that,
that I discovered one of the fundraising opportunities was to host a walk-a-thon. If I hadn’t
written the research paper, I don’t think I would have been as passionate about the project, but
because I was able to really understand and connect with my topic, I became more eager to make
a difference. My research was a great motivation factor for me to get focused and determined to
have a great product.
Doing my senior project, I learned a lot about my work ethic and what I can do to
improve myself for future projects. I see that organization is very important if you are planning a
huge event. Also, staying on schedule and meeting deadlines is essential for the project to run
smoothly. Overall, this was a great learning experience for me. I know that I will continue
supporting the Muscular Dystrophy cause and will continue to fight for a cure and do anything I
can to help that organization. This whole process has truly touched me and I am so privileged to
have taken part in such a great cause.

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As a result of completing the project, I have learned that I really do want to pursue a
career in being a doctor. There is no better satisfaction than being able to lend a helping hand and
by being a doctor, I can save lives and make an impact on the people around me. This project
solidified my plans for the future. I plan to attend the University of Georgia in the fall where I
will major in pre-pharmacy on the track to becoming a doctor. This project has been a great
starting point for me and I know when I’m in college, I will strive to continue making a
difference on the world around me.
So I leave you today with a quote from Jackie Mutcheson. “It takes each of us to make a
difference for all of us.”
Thank you so much for your time and I greatly appreciate your interest in my project.