Poly Prep senior’s legacy: Raising $20,000 for cancer kids

May 26, 2015 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Margaret Riordan will soon be graduating from Poly Prep. Photo courtesy Poly Prep

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When Margaret Riordan was a sophomore at Poly Prep County Day School, she founded Poly Kids Walk for Kids with Cancer, a group that participated in walkathons to raise money for children with the disease.

Riordan is a now a senior getting ready to graduate from Poly Prep and can look back on her philanthropic endeavors with pride, according to school officials, who said she and her team have raised an impressive $20,000 over the past three years.

Her most recent endeavor took place on May 2, when she and the Poly team took part in another Kids Walk for Kids with Cancer event in Central Park and raised $8,000.

“We had over 25 walkers from Team Poly in the Upper School,” Riordan wrote on her Kids Walk blog. She labeled the walkathon event an “excellent day.”

The Kids Walk event supports pediatric cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center by way of student-led publicity, fundraising, and public awareness efforts.

“This is my very last year as an organizer of Kids Walk and thus far it has been incredible,” Riordan wrote on her blog. “Though I will not be an official part of the cause in years to come, it will always be close to my heart. Kids Walk for Kids with Cancer is an organization that thrives upon student leadership and ultimately kids helping kids. It is an organization that teaches young students the value of giving and the strength of a community. It’s an amazing cause and I am lucky to have been a part of it for so long.”

Riordan will attend Hamilton College in the fall.

Linda Aponte, a science teacher in Poly’s Middle School, who was among the walkers supporting Team Poly, stated that she was proud of the students. “Poly Prep had a nice showing at the Kids Walk for Kids with Cancer,” she said.

Poly Prep Headmaster David B. Harman said that Riordan made the entire school proud.

“Poly is many things, but leadership, character, and caring about others are core school values, and Margaret Riordan is a student who epitomizes all three of them. We couldn’t be more proud of the work she had done to help children with cancer in the New York City community. Team Poly’s continued success in years to come will be Riordan’s legacy at Poly,” Harman said.