Carmel students win awards for Alzheimer’s initiative

By BRITTANY NOBLE
WISH-TV | wishtv.com

Every month, WISH-TV highlights a local school district with “The Morning Bell,” a conversation focused on new or exciting programs and accomplishments within Indiana schools.

On Monday, three Carmel High School students joined Daybreak to share how they’ve turned personal pain into purpose after one student, Caiden O’Connell, lost his grandmother to Alzheimer’s last August. Now, O’Connell, Wells Wright, and Will Spence are being recognized both in Indiana and on an international stage their powerful project supporting Alzheimer’s research.

“My grandmother battled Alzheimer’s for over seven years, and in August she passed away,” O’Connell said. “As I was going through that, we decided to kind of fight back and make a real impact in the community.”

That fight back took the form of a car detailing business, which the students launched last June. They spent the summer working with local companies, offering car detailing services to employees and donating 100 percent of the proceeds to the Alzheimer’s Association.

“We were just detailing cars, you know, with each other and working hard,” Wright said. “Eventually we donated all of it. Then we started spreading awareness about our project as well.”

Corporate sponsors stepped in along the way, supporting both financially and with outreach efforts. The students also volunteered at a local memory care center to deepen their connection to the cause.

All their efforts paid off. The team raised an impressive $20,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association.

“We were fortunate enough to raise about $20,000,” Spence said. “We’re extremely grateful to everyone who donated to our cause.”

Their work caught the attention of DECA, a national organization focused on business and leadership development for students. The team placed second at DECA’s International Career Development Conference in Orlando, which drew more than 25,000 students from around the world.

“We spent a lot of time on our presentation and our paper. We were lucky it went so well,” Wright said.

The students participated in “The Longest Day,” a signature fundraising initiative of the Alzheimer’s Association that leads up to the summer solstice on June 20. The effort is meant to symbolize the long days caregivers and patients endure while fighting the disease.

“It’s honestly really easy to get involved,” O’Connell said. “We detailed cars. You could bake cookies. You could run a race. Just do something you care about and use that to make a difference.”

What started as a coping mechanism for O’Connell has become something greater for all three students.

“It was kind of a way of coping and getting through it,” he said. “But after spending time with other people battling Alzheimer’s, it really felt close to home.”

Now, the students are preparing to head off to college – O’Connell to Indiana University, and Wright and Spence to Purdue – but they say their commitment to the cause isn’t ending.

“Hopefully we can stay connected and still find ways to give back despite our distance,” Wright said. “I know me and Will will continue to fight at Purdue.”

Their message to others is simple: don’t wait for the perfect plan.

“When we started, we never thought we would get $20,000,” Spence said. “Our goal was just a couple hundred. But it snowballed into something bigger.”

With heart, hard work, and a few good friends, even high school students can make a global impact.

This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/education/carmel-students-almzheimer-initiative.