The token motto of Rock Ridge High School is RISE: Respect, Integrity, Service, and Empathy. These four pillars, which represent the school as a whole, are valued very seriously. Cure Club, which aims to help raise awareness about diseases, disabilities and mental illnesses, hopes to represent all four parts of Rock Ridge by holding fundraisers for organizations such as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Project Cure.

A major project for Cure Club has been presenting about disabilities and illnesses to students at Rosa Lee Carter Elementary School as a way to raise awareness among kids in a manner that they would understand. 

Junior Mimtaaha Kader, president of the club, highlights how these presentations are important to her personally. “My favorite part of the Cure Club is either the presentations at Rosa Lee Carter Elementary or the fundraisers,” Kader said. “Both interact with kids, and I like to see them being interested and having fun. I love bonding with members and the kids. I love seeing the kids smile and seeing them have fun.”

English teacher and second-year Cure Club sponsor Timothy Greening appreciates how these fundraisers both have an international and local reach. “We do the international charity work through Cure International, which is like the organization that we are allied with,” Greening said. “We [also] do [events] with the local hospitals in NOVA. I like the idea of having a global and local focus.”

These fundraisers, such as events and drives, show successful results and good profits, according to Kader. “Having a successful fundraiser last year for UNICEF with the kids having lots of fun and making cards for kids at INOVA, we were able to raise $76,” Kader said. “We just had a successful fundraiser for leukemia, and we were able to raise $102.”

Cure Club also has many other fundraising and awareness events planned for the future.“We have many fundraisers and presentations planned,” Kader said. “For example, on Nov. 22, we have our Down Syndrome Fundraiser and we have activities such as hand turkeys, pinning the tail feathers to the turkey, board games/card games, a movie, and snacks. We also have the Winter Fest Fundraiser in December for UNICEF and Project Cure.” 

Cure Club establishes a sense of community within the school. The club approaches serious topics through a positive and optimistic lens, fulfilling its mission in a fashion that is not only informative but enjoyable for the members. “The experience has been interesting but overall amazing,” Kader said. “I also love interacting with the club members and forming memories. In the end, it’s really wholesome and encouraging seeing people wanting to help others and bring change.”

Additionally, Cure Club fosters the spirit of empathy within not just its members, but people within the school too. “I feel like Cure Club has impacted Rock Ridge by teaching people and encouraging them to be aware of issues that we don’t think about or that are ‘invisible’ to others, helping them to make, change, and foster more empathy within them,” Kader said. 

Cure Club has had a sizable impact on the community of Rock Ridge. Sophomore Sadie Cluck, a member of the club since last year, emphasizes the importance and impact of Cure Club on the community, noting how it educates future generations and urges them to make a difference. “The Cure Club has impacted Rock Ridge in great ways by educating future students of worldly problems, so once they are in high school, they can be able to make a difference to the community as a whole,” Cluck said.