(Thursday, November 15, 2012) — Cheers filled the chilly air as junior Sarin Mousessian called out the names of the first set of participants in Relay for Life’s first ever pie eating contest last Friday. The six contestants took their seats and with their hands behind their backs, awaited the signal to begin. After five minutes of faces buried in pumpkin pie and sidelong glances at the competition, Health and P.E. teacher Randy Tiffany announced that junior Allen Navasardyan was the winner of the first round. As the half-eaten pies were cleared from the table, the next round began with a fresh set of six contestants. The idea of having a pie eating contest as a means of raising money to donate to the American Cancer Society came up during one of the club’s weekly meetings. “They decided to try it; we’ve never done anything like this before,” said teacher Carol Pettegrew, the group’s advisor. The second round included junior Hasmik Novshadian, who was the only female participant of the contest. Despite cheers from her friends in the crowd and Tiffany’s remarks aimed at spurring the contestants along, she said she struggled to get further than the first few bites. Anticipating a similar outcome for herself, junior Isabel Lawler opted to support the club and its cause by buying a two-dollar ticket to be an audience member. “I like my pumpkin pie one slice at a time,” Lawler said. “I don’t understand how someone could eat a pie that fast, but it’s quite a feat.” Freshman Allen Sotiri claimed his frozen yogurt gift card for winning the second round, as did two raffle winners from the approximately 50 people in the audience—others peered through windows from overlooking classrooms. Junior Daniela Almeida, co-captain of Relay for Life, said she thought the event was a big success. “We had more contestants and people in the audience than I expected,” Almeida said. “We will definitely be doing it again in the future.”