On Sunday, April 6, Colleges Against Cancer will host its 12th-annual Dip (previously the Dutchman Dip), a fundraiser where students go on a slip and slide in the cold. The Dip was co-founded in 2013 by Maria Dreezen ‘14 and Kaitlyn Suarez ‘16, and has since become a yearly tradition on campus. This year, the dip aims to raise $4,000 for the college’s Shinebarger Memorial Scholarship.
Dreezen and Suarez founded the dip after they learned that staff member Shelly Shinebarger’s daughter Kristen Shinebarger was diagnosed with Ewig’s Sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. “She was 10, and the treatments got to the point where she needed to have a leg amputation, and thus a prosthetic leg, which really gets expensive because you’re a child growing.” Suarez explained.
“I had also went through cancer treatments in high school and in my community, people really stepped up and helped me with finances,” Suarez continued. “Matt Milless [Assistant Vice President For Student Affairs] and I looked at each other and were like, we can do something different, and we came up with the dip.”
The first dip took place in March 2013, when students jumped into a small pool outside of the field house. The next year, students began sliding down a large water slide outside of Reamer, and the tradition has grown and continued ever since.
Proceeds from the dip have funded medical bills for Shinebarger, Suarez (who had another cancer relapse after creating the dip), Justin Lloyd ‘16 and Nate Greenberg ‘15, two other students undergoing cancer treatments. Shinebarger passed away due to her cancer in 2018, and since then, the dip has funded the Shinebarger Memorial Scholarship, generally given to students who use the office of accomodative services and have financial need. Last year, the dip raised $2,293 for the scholarship fund.
“I hope it’s like a way for everyone to remember that the community shows up for each other,” Suarez remarked. “For me to watch it online and see the photos later, it’s one of the things that really made me feel good in the world.”
This year, Suarez will match $1 per donor up to 250 donors. The dip will happen on Sunday, April 6 in front of Reamer, and community members can donate to the scholarship fund from now until the event.
