By Meghan Byrnes

Editor-in-Chief

October is breast cancer awareness month, which at Jamesville-DeWitt High School usually means a Pink Out is coming. For the fourth year in a row, the senior Corporate Communications class has organized a school-wide Pink Out. “The Pink Out is an event that Corporate Comm. does every year, so we are just kind of continuing the tradition,” said  member of the class and store manager senior Ryan Durkin. English teacher Terri Eaton remembers a Corporate Communications class coming up with the idea four years ago, and it was so successful that it has become an annual event. This year, however, has a slight twist.

For the first time in Pink Out history, not only are the Pink Out shirts sold to be worn in school, but the students in Corporate Communications had the idea to extend the Pink Out to a sporting event later that day. This means that on Friday, Oct. 10, the day of the pink out, students should wear their Pink Out shirts both to school that day and the football game that night, with the goal to “pink out the stands”, said Durkin. That game against Oswego is senior night for the J-DHS Varsity Football team, meaning it is the last home football game of the year, making the night an even bigger deal. “We wanted to associate it with a sporting event so a lot of people could join in,” said senior Ben Wipper. In addition to being in the Corporate Communications class, Wipper is a member of the football team, and he said that many of the football players are excited for the Pink Out because they think it will attract fans to their last home game.     

For those who may be new to the school, the way to participate in the Pink Out at J-DHS is to buy a t-shirt from the School Store. The design for this year’s $10 t-shirt can be seen above and in the display on the way to the cafeterias. The Corporate Communications classes run the School Store, and do everything from designing the shirts and deciding how many to order, to choosing the date for the event. According Mrs. Eaton, all of the profit the school store makes goes to charity, but the profit made specifically from the Pink Out t-shirts is donated to breast cancer research. “It’s for a great cause. The Pink Out raises money for breast cancer awareness which many people are affected by,” said the public relations representative for the School Store, senior Abby Shaw.

Although it is one of their biggest events, the Pink Out isn’t the only thing the School Store does. The Corporate Communications classes work hard to run the store throughout the school year and sell various items to make profits for charity. The students have almost all of the responsibility that comes with running the store. “They have to make all the decisions, which can be both good and bad,” said Mrs. Eaton jokingly. The process of planning the Pink Out is a good example of how the store is run and how decisions are made. “We voted on which shirt design we wanted on a quiz that we took,” said senior Sam Griffiths. This way, the students are the ones who come up with the designs and ideas as well as vote on which options they will pursue.