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AWARENESS: Poly’s campus raises support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Bullying Prevention Awareness Month.
By Kira Roybal, Staff Writer
October is usually defined by a single day: Halloween. Young and old dress up in costumes, children engorge themselves with sweet candies and an air of enthusiasm envelops the holiday. However, October also has a serious side to it. It is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. Though breast cancer and bullying may seem like a bizarre combination, awareness can decrease the likelihood of both. It is for these grave matters that people can momentarily set aside their enthusiasm for Halloween treats to donate time, money or even consideration to these causes.
Here’s a scary statistic: one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Here’s the good news: early detection and a variety of treatment options can help keep breast cancer under control. Breast cancer is not an individual battle; each victim has family, friends, doctors and generous donors to support them.
Cancer Answer, Poly’s cancer awareness and fundraising club, is doing some support of their own. Anna Avalos (11), president of Cancer Answer, said that the club is planning on making posters for breast cancer awareness and encouraging students to wear pink, the ribbon color for breast cancer, on Thursdays. Cancer Answer also plans to make bracelets and sell them for one dollar during lunch in order to raise money for the cure.
As many of you may have heard, if you listen to fourth period announcements, Poly’s Pep Squad is selling pink spirit ribbons for one dollar. The proceeds will go to fund breast cancer research in the Inland Empire. Did you get your pink spirit ribbon yet?
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Bullying can be described as the repeated aggressive behavior of one individual or a group of individuals against another person. This dictionary definition does not, however, express all of the trauma and loneliness experienced by the victims of bullying. Extensive bullying can usually leave its victims depressed or even afraid to go to school. Sometimes victims are pushed to the extreme and resort to suicide for relief.
Whitney Kropp, a sophomore from Michigan, was one such victim on the verge of suicide. The self-proclaimed outcast had been chosen as the unlikely sophomore homecoming queen only to discover that her fellow students voted for her as a joke. Kropp spent the night crying when she found out and began to contemplate suicide. But she is still here today thanks to the support of her town. Once they heard her story, local small businesses joined together to donate a new homecoming dress and the local salon gave Kropp a new hairstyle. If it was not for the kindness and support her family and town, Kropp might have been saying her last words instead of enjoying herself as homecoming queen.
Others are not so fortunate. Amanda Todd, a 16-year-old from Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, had her world turned upside down after being pressured to flash her chest to a man she met through her webcam when she was 14. This man then took a photo of her and posted it online. The humiliation and rejection that followed caused Todd to switch schools and even move to different towns; still the man tormented her with the photo, even using it as his profile picture. Todd dove into drugs and alcohol and attempted suicide by drinking bleach. She was even beaten by another female student at one of her later schools; this student was upset after discovering that her boyfriend supposedly liked Todd. Todd posted a video entitled “My Story: Struggling, Bullying, Suicide, Self Harm” on September 7, in which she hinted at continuing to fight against all of the negative forces in her life. Todd committed suicide on October 12.
What prevents incidents like this from happening at Poly? Thousands of rules could be made against bullying, but that would not necessarily stop it.
“[…Poly is] a safe campus because of the decision-making on the part of the students,” Principal Wade Coe explained. “I think our students value a safe campus.” What happens at school depends on the students. Sure, once someone is bullied teachers and administrators can be there after the fact, but it is up to the students to develop enough courage to stand up to harmful individuals and to lend a helping hand to the lonely and scared.
If you ever witness any type of bullying, be sure to fill out a bullying form available at the front desk in the office, the health office and in the library. “Do not wait to talk to someone. Ask for help,” Coe said. Having the courage to raise your voice could mean the difference between a case like Whitney Kropp’s and a case like Amanda Todd’s.
Photo Contributions by stlamerican.com and peacefulpurple.org