Two Woodlands High School sophomores started a student-run cancer awareness club in August, and it already has an officer team, every-other-week meetings and a calendar of volunteer events stretching into next year.
Phoebe Zhang and Katayoun Fougerdi co-founded Highlanders Against Cancer, a chapter of the American Cancer Society (ACS) national High Schools Against Cancer program, The Caledonian, the TWHS student newspaper, first reported Oct. 6.
Zhang, who hopes to study oncology, said the idea took shape in December 2025 after she found the ACS campus program online. She asked Fougerdi, a classmate from biology, to join her. The two filled out an interest form on the ACS website and met with a representative to learn the basics of launching a chapter.
Fougerdi told The Caledonian the two connected in biology class, and when Zhang pitched the idea, "I realized we had this shared interest."
The club is open to any TWHS student. It held its second general meeting Friday, Oct. 2, in room 249, where members watched an educational slideshow about breast cancer during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Highlanders Against Cancer meets every other Friday at 3 p.m. in the same room.
The club operates around four pillars shared by every High Schools Against Cancer chapter: fundraising, patient support, advocacy and research. All activities count toward volunteer hours, and seniors who log 20 hours can earn a cord.
Zhang and Fougerdi recruited officers through a word-of-mouth interest form at the start of the school year. Several positions, including secretary, treasurer and public relations officer, drew multiple applicants. Both founders are sophomores.
Among the club's goals this year: participating in the Montgomery County Relay for Life, an ACS-sponsored fundraiser, and volunteering at Memorial Hermann's Canopy Cancer Survivorship Center at The Woodlands Medical Center.
Zhang discovered Canopy while volunteering with Music as Medicine Rx, a separate TWHS club that sends young musicians to perform for hospital patients. She described the survivorship center as feeling nothing like a typical medical facility, with a kitchen and piano performances that give it a warm, homelike atmosphere.
Later in October, the club plans to make cards for cancer patients. Guest speakers from the ACS are also on the schedule for the rest of the school year.
Upcoming Highlanders Against Cancer events:
- Card-making for cancer patients, later in October
- Montgomery County Relay for Life, November
- Volunteer visits to Canopy Cancer Survivorship Center (date to be announced)
- Meetings every other Friday at 3 p.m. in room 249, TWHS
Students can follow the club on Instagram at @highlandersagainstcancer.acs.
