The College Challenge

The 2011 College Challenge is an intercollegiate movement to encourage students across the US to help register 100,000 people on the national bone marrow registry. Organized by 100k Cheeks, the challenge begins in March and goes until the end of May. Stanford's 100K Cheeks will provide materials for students to start a campus-based campaign of their own and to connect with local National Marrow Donor Program representatives.

We urge colleges to start with on-the-ground efforts such as holding a bone marrow drive on campus, while incorporating social media. The challenge will be a cooperative process but will also contain a competitive component so that we can encourage more students to join the registry. We hope that this Challenge will transform a Stanford-born project started by ten students into a sustainable, sweeping, national campaign.

For more information and inspiration, please watch our College Challenge video.

Who can get involved?

Any college students willing to take simple steps to save more lives can join the challenge.

Which schools are already participating?

Colleges like Tufts, Santa Clara, Harvard, UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, University of Utah, and MIT are participating.

How can I sign up?

An email ([email protected]) saying yes is all it takes to sign up!

What will happen after I email 100K Cheeks?

We will send you all the steps and materials you need to hold a drive of your own. These items include concise and easy directions on how to host a bone marrow drive on your campus, fliers, template letters for recruitment, and social media tips.

We will also connect you with the Be The Match (National Marrow Donor Program) representative for you region. This person can help you with everything related to holding a drive, including planning, fundraising, and logistics.

Then, you can actually hold a drive on your campus and tell us the number of donors you were able to register!

How do you count the numbers of donors during the competition?

Your Be The Match representative will help you keep track of the number of donors at your drives.

Please email [email protected] with any additional questions.