BIOGRAPHY

My name is Lola McQueen and I am ecstatic to be involved with Illini 4000 and the 2012 Bike America Team! I’m currently a senior in History at the University of Illinois but will be graduating in December. After graduating, I plan to get teacher certified so I can teach English abroad and then ship off to graduate school. I hope to document my experience working with the Illini 4000 as a basis for future writing projects and very much look forward to the process of raising funds as well as biking and spreading awareness about cancer. My passions are music and dance! I love singing, playing the cello, going to concerts, listening to records and jamming with my friends and family. I’m taking ballet, jazz, and Capoeira at the U of I and have various choreography side projects I am doing within the local dance and theater scene. Other interests of mine include food (cooking and eating) traveling (I wish to see the entire world!) and reading (books are awesome). I feel so blessed to have this opportunity and greatly look forward to the year ahead!

PERSONAL STATEMENT

My paternal grandparents both died from lung cancer. My grandmother didn’t even live long enough to meet her only grandson (my now 15 year old brother). My maternal grandmother is a cancer survivor! She had breast cancer twice but fought through it and is alive and healthy today. She is an amazingly strong woman and someone I really look up to. Having close loved ones suffer from cancer is something that has really affected me. In the cases of my father‘s parents, it could have been treatable if it had been detected earlier. A cure for cancer may still seem like an impossibility to some, but as science improves, earlier detection can save many peoples’ lives. Having had these experiences, I feel very motivated to fight against the disease. Illini 4000 is a good outlet for this because their main goal is to raise funds and awareness in this fight!