School of Design alumna Robin Luo (BFA, Communication Design, 2007) was one of over 70 individuals chosen to be a torchbearer for the Olympic flame in San Francisco, California—the flame’s only stop in North America.





Luo, a San Francisco native, was selected as one of 35 out of 536 applicants who had submitted essays on the theme “Sustainable Journey.” (Click here to see a list of all the runners).


Alumna Robin Luo (BFA, Communication Design, 2007)

In Luo’s essay, she recalled her battle with nasopharyngeal cancer in the spring of 2006:
“To me, the Olympic torch represents hope. I know the importance of hope. In spring 2006, I was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer and left school to get radiation and chemotherapy. I lost some hair, some hearing, most of my taste, my saliva, my ability to eat, and with that my energy. Some days it would take me 3 hours to eat a meal. I needed more calories to rebuild my body as it was attacked by the treatment, but the side effects to my mouth and my digestive system made that incredibly hard. There were days last summer when all I did was try to eat. Throughout the ordeal though, I always believed I would make it.

And I did. I graduated from college a semester early. Every weekday, I run 2 miles in the morning. I've out-eaten some of my guy friends when we were trying to finish a huge 45 lb. pizza. Last year I chaired the Relay For Life committee at Carnegie Mellon and we raised over $52,000, more than double the previous amount, to help fight cancer.

I want to bring my hope to others. I want to show them what a cancer survivor can accomplish.


The torch’s original six mile route through the city was altered at the last minute due to security concerns and early confrontations at the torch’s original starting and ending points. For more coverage on the revised route, read the story at SFGate.com.



Read more about Luo and the October 2006 Relay for Life event



Posted on Apr 7, 2008