Zoe Potamianos, Mara Durkin, Meghan Evans
Staff Writers
This October, Jamesville-DeWitt High School students and staff participated in the annual Pink Out and other fundraisers in honor of breast cancer awareness month. Students and teachers have had parents and relatives who have been personally affected by this awful disease, so the community likes to support organizations that fight it.
One way the community supported the fight was through the monthly Red Out, which is when teachers can wear red and donate a $1 or more to that month’s chosen cause. Since October was breast cancer awareness month, teachers donated to Stupid Dumb Breast Cancer. According to Mr. DeChick, the teachers donated $97.76.
The Pink Out is an annual sale at J-DHS that has been going on for seven years. English teachers Terri Eaton and Kristin Gallivan run the fundraiser through the Corporate Communication senior English class. The students are in charge of designing and selling the shirts, which change every year. Short sleeve shirts were $10 and long sleeve shirts were $15. This year, all 300 shirts were sold out.The Pink Out shirts were worn by students and staff on Oct.13 to school and the home football game. The class also sold other items like stickers, doughnuts and bracelets on the day of the Pink Out. All together they raised $1,000.
“I am very happy about this fundraiser because we could do something local and we donated all proceeds to Stupid Dumb Breast Cancer, which is a very good organization,” said senior Ryan Evans, who is part of the Corporate Communications class. Others were happy to contribute to this fundraiser because they could relate to this illness personally. “I feel good about this fundraiser because my mom, grandmother, great aunt, and my great grandmother all had breast cancer and it feels amazing we get to participate in this fundraiser to raise awareness,” said freshman Amelia Zumbuhl.
Ann Marie Otis, who works for Stupid Dumb Breast Cancer, came in to talk to the Corporate Communications class on Oct. 27 in order to explain where the money they raised goes once it is donated.
Every two minutes, a women is diagnosed with breast cancer and 1 in 8 women, or 12% of women in America, will get diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, however 2,470 men a year are also diagnosed. Raising awareness for this illness and donating to research organizations from our school can make a difference to the outcome of this cancer.
