My name is Phil Mercado and I am a sophomore at Good Counsel. I am a Team Member of Kyle’s Army 2.0. We are participating in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Student of the Year (SOY) campaign.

The SOY campaign is a 7-week event where my team and I raise as much money as we can for blood cancer research and to spread awareness through events, sponsorships, and donations. We will be competing with about 40 other high school teams from around the District, Maryland, and Virginia.

The first person I met in school was Sara Fritschi. We have been classmates and friends since kindergarten.  When we were in 5th grade Sara's brother Kyle was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Our community was crushed and immediately we all wanted to help. My family joined a large community and supporters of Kyle that became "Kyle's Army." Kyle eventually ran for SOY and named his team Kyle's Army that we were proud to support. Kyle's Army raised $95,000 that year! Since then Kyle and Kyle's Army have continued to work on fighting and raising awareness for blood cancers. Four years later when Sara asked me to join her on her own team, of course, I said YES. Now Sara Fritschi, Alex Waldren, Maddie Tan, Carly Odell, Claire Beucher, Kiley Rutland, Maya Yapur and I are Kyle’s Army 2.0 and our goal is $100,000. Please help us reach this goal and beat Kyle! :)

Visit our Facebook and Instagram Pages for more information.