 As part of her scholarship pageant platform, Ms. Northern Lakes is helping raise money for childhood cancer research. Malmyra reports for this week's Golden Apple, she went to Lincoln Elementary in Bemidji to talk to students about how even a small donation can make a big difference. We have Ms. Kendra Sparby, Ms. Northern Lakes here joining us today. For Kendra Sparby, childhood cancer hits close to home. Raise your hand if you know what cancer is. Her friend Gracie Woods was diagnosed in middle school and passed away from the disease a little over a year ago. That whole time she was going through different treatments and so I saw firsthand how fundraising and awareness, just letting people know about it helps out so much. Since winning the title of Ms. Northern Lakes in September, the Thief River Falls High School Senior has been raising awareness and money for the American Childhood Cancer Organization. Even just telling people that it's underfunded gets them going a little bit and gets them a lot more eager to donate. It's been a while since school has been able to do something like this. How many of you know somebody who has cancer? About eight years ago, the father of a student in Peter Barr's class was diagnosed with cancer. And we had cans in all the classrooms and we did a nice coins for cancer drive and raised quite a bit of money that we donated to the cancer study. Having the guest speaker give the teachers a chance to talk to the students about why this was so important. They came together and just kind of recognized with each other that they all knew someone with cancer, not necessarily a child with cancer. But hearing just how little of U.S. Federal funding for cancer research is dedicated to children drove the point home. Kids get 4% of that money. That's it. You guys think that that's fair? No. The students were able to ask questions and have a critical discussion about the disease. And really seemed interested in knowing more about cancer as a whole and how that affects children. Joan McKinnon says that Miss Northern Lakes got the students thinking about the future. I had two boys talk to me as they're getting ready to go to the buses. I think we should have a fundraiser here at Lincoln. In just one day, the students were able to raise $166.26 for the cause. In Bemidji with This Week's Golden Apple, I'm Mal Meyer, Lakeland News. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.