Skyline goes pink to support a friend and colleague

When Christi Canady-Boyd, a speech therapy assistant at Skyline High School, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021, she was anxious about talking to her supervisor. Little did she know the conversation would lead to a four-year legacy of love and support as dozens of Skyline Raiders will walk once again in the Susan G. Komen race for the Cure on Oct. 19.

“It was my first year at Skyline, but I had known her from [W.H] Gaston [Middle School],” said Sonja Nix, assistant principal at Skyline High School. “When she told me, I took off my supervisor hat and put on my friend hat and asked her what we could do to support her.”

Canady-Boyd got her treatment and is doing well, but because Nix was raised always help others and is part of a sorority that emphasizes service to others, she went a step further to support her friend and team member in her fight against a disease that affects one in four women in the United States.

Nix created a Skyline Raiders team for that year’s Komen Race for the Cure and encouraged the school’s athletics teams to join. Several did, including the drill team—the Skyline Silhouettes—who stopped every so often along the route to do a routine and cheer on the other participants. The first year, the Skyline team had about 150 participants and raised $1,500.

For Nix, getting students involved was important because often people go through their everyday lives missing what is going on in others’ lives. Breast cancer touches everyone on some level, and the race teaches students—and adults—empathy.

“There aren’t a lot of opportunities to reach out and touch someone else,” she said. “This lets them take a break from themselves and think about how they can impact others’ lives.”

The second year, the numbers increased, and the team had about 250 people participate, including the boys baseball team. The organization even requested the Silhouettes come back with their routines. People donated $5 for walkers to wear T-shirts with the name of a loved one who had been diagnosed with the disease. The team raised $2,500 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which provides support for those diagnosed with breast cancer as well as funding for research to find treatments and eventually a cure. 

“I am thankful that I had someone in my life like Ms. Nix,” Canady-Boyd said. “I feel good because it has impacted so many, changed so many lives because we all have purpose. I feel like going through this is fulfilling the purpose that the Lord almighty has for me.” 

Changes in staffing led to a decrease in participation for the third year, but Oct. 19 will likely see a resurgence of the Skyline Raiders at the Komen Race for the Cure because planning and fundraising started early, said Ssereta Lafayette, Skyline special education teacher, who took over the organizational efforts.

“We are ready,” she said. “We really enjoy seeing students participate. It helps them to see that if you put good energy in, good energy comes back to you and that good always wins. It lets us participate in community service that touches your heart.”

Latronda Williams, a special education teacher assistant at Skyline, is also organizing a “More than Pink” walk on Oct. 26 at the school for those who can’t make the Oct. 19 race, and funds raised for that will also go to the Komen Foundation. Williams believes it’s important that students and team members who couldn’t get to the Plano event have an opportunity to “be of service and be the gem in their community. To say, ‘I don’t know them, but I can walk with them in this fight.’”

The four women hope that the legacy of empathy they started to support a friend and colleague takes root and continues for many years at Skyline and wherever the students go after they graduate.   

“I am a Skyline alum and a Silhouette, so this rings very deep for me” Canady-Boyd said. “I truly am wonderful because of all the support. In the Skyline special education department, we are like a family. Everybody was so supportive. Our Circle Soulja Pink, that’s what I call my group, I felt their love from work, from home, from family. It really helped me to get through everything.”

For more information about the Skyline Raiders race team or to support them, download their flyer. And for more information or to donate to the More than Pink walk on Oct. 26, download their flyer.