On Sept. 19, New Trier High School football hosted its annual “’Gold Out’” game in support of Cal’s Angels, a regional pediatric cancer foundation. Throughout the week, New Trier students, families, and staff bought hundreds of gold shirts to wear to the game with all revenue being donated to the foundation.

Since 2007, Cal’s Angels has been one of the leading pediatric cancer foundations in Illinois. The organization is named in the honor of Cal Sutter, a boy from South Elgin who died in 2006 after a resilient battle with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. In the 18 years since its creation, Cal’s Angels has raised over $33 million for children battling pediatric cancer.

While Cal’s Angels has put on the ‘Gold Out’ sporting events for years, the tradition began at New Trier in 2019.

After her diagnosis with pediatric cancer in 2018, former New Trier student Olivia Sergot (Class of 2020) began to feel the impact of Cal’s Angel’s work towards pediatric cancer.

“What Olivia Sergot would tell you is that [when Cal’s Angels came] it was the first time somebody came into the room and was positive,” Cindy Sergot, Olivia’s mom said. “Not that people weren’t nice at the hospital and positive, but it was the first time it didn’t have anything to do with her being sick. It was more ‘Hey, how are you? What do you like to do?’”

Building onto this emotional support for the patients and families, an important part of Cal’s Angels work is providing “wishes” for kids diagnosed with pediatric cancer. With Olivia Sergot’s wish, she was able to watch an Ariana Grande concert with Cindy and her sister, Ava Sergot, in between her treatments.

Throughout her battle with cancer, Olivia Sergot focused on trying to help other kids fighting cancer too.

“She was very involved in doing awareness things,” Cindy Sergot said. “So when we found out about the Go Gold game, she was like, ‘Yeah, I’d love to do it.’”

In 2019, Olivia Sergot and Cindy Sergot decided to introduce the idea to her adviser, Jennifer Jackson, in hopes of bringing the tradition to New Trier. 

“Olivia and her mom ran with it,” Jackson said. “That first year, Olivia and all of her friends really helped make it possible.”

That year New Trier held its first ever ‘Gold Out’ game in honor of pediatric cancer awareness. Jackson’s advisory sold Cal’s Angels shirts together during lunch periods, and by Friday night, the bleachers at the Northfield stadium were covered in a sea of gold. Olivia Sergot and her family walked onto the field and were honored by athletic director Augie Fontanetta, a tradition that continues to this day with students affected by pediatric cancer.

“That first year, everyone was so caring and supportive in honoring Olivia,” Cindy Sergot said.

In December of 2021, Olivia Sergot passed away after an over three-year battle with cancer. 

But the mark Olivia Sergot left on New Trier and its community will never be lost. The optimism she had during tough times, the joy she brought to family and friends, and her willingness to speak out and support others in similar situations will never be forgotten. 

Since 2019, New Trier has come together every year to remember the constant fight against pediatric cancer, honor those who are currently battling it, and those who we’ve lost. 

The Go Gold movement has expanded past New Trier football since; now, other fall sports teams use their own gold items to show awareness for pediatric cancer: gold club towels for boys and girls golf, gold swim caps for girls swim & dive, and gold socks for girls field hockey. 

“We try to continue to build on what we do each year and get more people involved by wearing gold during the week or the month of September,” Fontanetta said.

Jackson has continued selling the Go Gold shirts with her advisees ever since Olivia Sergot graduated from New Trier in 2020.

“It was a tradition that we just kept going with,” Jackson said. “When I got this new [advisery], I introduced it to them in their sophomore year and we’ve been doing it ever since. So this is their third year doing the gold game. Even if some years we have students to honor, and some years we don’t, the cause is [still] so important.”

The tradition will never cease to shine a light on the battles that many students, at New Trier and across the country, fight every day.

“You will always know someone that had to deal with cancer in their lives,” Cindy Sergot said.  “Just being aware, that it’s still something to keep in the forefront of our minds and do anything we can to support work for a cure, so we don’t lose people like Olivia.”

If you would like to support Cal’s Angels mission, please visit their website here to check out all their fundraising events and all the ways you can help support their foundation.