CCGA hosts Breast Cancer Awareness Day
By LAUREN MCDONALD lmcdonald@goldenisles.news
The Campus Center at College of Coastal Georgia was decked out in pink on Wednesday for Breast Cancer Awareness Day.
The annual event aims to promote awareness and help raise funds to go toward breast cancer research, said Brittany Garcia, a coordinator for student engagement and intercultural programs.
“We hope that students will be educated on breast cancer awareness, have an opportunity to celebrate our survivors and also share their personal stories of how the disease has impacted them,” said Jaime Parker-Lewis, associate dean of student life at CCGA.
The Breast Cancer Awareness event, which began six years ago as an information table, has grown every year to one that now includes multiple student organizations and community members, Parker-Lewis said.
Students in the Radiologic Science program, the Coastal Georgia Association of Nursing Students (CGANS) and the Rotaract Club donned pink and came out with a table at the event.
The Student Health Center hosted a “bling out your own bra” contest, for which students crafted creative bra designs to be hung in the health center and voted on.
All through Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, the health center on campus has made a push to teach students how to self-administer breast exams, said Thearon Filson, an administrative assistant in the Student Health Center.
“Some of them have family members who have been diagnosed,” Filson said. “This event is to make sure they’re aware of their heath and of the risks.”
Breast cancer affects approximately 1 in 8 women in the United States each year.
In 2016, doctors estimate that more than 246,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States.
“I recently had a godmother pass away from breast cancer,” said Morgan Piratzky, a CCGA senior who attended the event. “It’s the No. 1 most common cancer, and it can happen at any age. It’s important for us to know about breast cancer and to support the funding.”