Hampton High School’s Talbot Thon fights pediatric cancer

Whether they were playing volleyball or dodgeball, participating in Zumba or purchasing food-truck cuisine, the folks who gathered at Hampton High School on March 25 seemed to have something in common.

They were smiling.

After spending a significant portion of their lives to this point contending with covid-related restrictions, Hampton students were able to get together with their friends and family members for what finally transpired as the sixth annual Talbot Thon.

“It’s definitely good to see everyone happy and involved, and everything seems back to normal for the most part,” senior Nicole Fortes, student council president, said as she helped monitor the flurry of activity that took place starting just after school and continuing until 11 p.m.

Members of the student council organized the event, which benefits UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in its efforts to combat cancer among young people. This year’s Talbot Thon raised $35,034.90.

“Having this event is really helping not just with pediatric cancer but also in bringing the school together,” Quentin Romero Lauro, the senior student council member who led the games committee, said. “We have a little bit of everything. We wanted to make sure that there was something for everybody here.”

More than 30 teams of students participated in a co-ed volleyball tournament in the main gymnasium, while the auxiliary gym served as the setting for a dodgeball competition. Table tennis and a bag toss were set up in the hallways, and wing- and pizza-eating contests took place as the event neared its conclusion.

The turnout was about 350 students, the majority of them able to attend Talbot Thon for the first time.

“In my sophomore year, we went through all the planning, but it was supposed to be a week after everything got shut down,” Mia Conte, student council vice president, said about the circumstances of March 2020.

“This year, since we were finally able to bring it back, all the seniors were very excited, but none of the underclassmen knew about anything that was supposed to go on,” she said. “It was definitely a little difficult, trying to pull everything together with only about eight people in student council knowing how it’s supposed to go. But everyone put in a lot of work, and everyone seems to be having a great time.”

For Quentin, who has seen cancer strike his family, the Talbot Thon cause is an especially worthwhile one to support.

“It affects a lot of people, so it spoke to me,” he said. “To do something for this means a lot to me.”