Royal blue. Kelly green. WCHS students proudly rock our colors—and it turns out that we can definitely rock pink, too. WCHS’s school-wide Pink-Out Day was last Friday, Oct. 25. The amount of support for breast cancer awareness and school spirit displayed among students was apparent.

Special pink-out sweatshirts were sold during the week of Oct. 21, but they were so popular that sales continued to the end of Oct. Each sweatshirt was $25, and part of the proceeds went towards breast cancer research at the Susan G. Komen Foundation, where over $400 was raised. Members of the junior and senior class SGA’s worked together to make this happen.

The junior class SGA decided to create a pink-out sweatshirt so they could raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation in DC and show class spirit. Junior Sangeet Anand,Class of 2021’s Treasurer, describes the purpose of pink-out day. 

“The purpose of our school-wide pink out was to spread breast cancer awareness during breast cancer awareness month by making it a spirit day,” Anand said. “This way we could spread school spirit and awareness at the same time.”

Anand’s role in this process was to design the sweatshirts, encourage her fellow classmates to wear pink to school and get her peers to purchase a pink out sweatshirt. She notes the positive impact that pink-out day had on the WCHS community.

“Through the tremendous support we received during our time doing the ‘pink-out,’ I think WCHS will continue to honor this day,” Anand said. “It pays respects to our fellow community members, raised awareness amongst students at school, and all in all creates a better atmosphere for children to go to school in.”

Junior Jay Wood, school SGA president, was in charge of organizing pink-out day. He helped other SGA officers organize and publicize the day, and built spirit around it. He mentions senior Madison Cuthbert’s role too. Cuthbert made and sold pink WCHS shirts leading up to this event, donating those proceeds towards breast cancer research. 

“I’d like to think that this school spirit helped contribute toward breast cancer awareness in our community, and the donation that Madison was able to make was a tangible accomplishment of the day,” Wood said. “It was nice to see teachers participate as well.”

Principal Heckert is pleased with how the day turned out, particularly the level of school spirit. She loves that the staff were very involved, and that students who had sporting events on Friday also wore pink. 

“I liked the spirit with the shirts that we saw,” Heckert said. “It gives students an opportunity to own something that is pink and says ‘Churchill’. I love that it has the Bulldog in pink.”

However, she notes that there were a few more activities in last year’s breast cancer awareness month. Last year, one of the students organized a student-led walk for breast cancer during their health period, and several classes participated. She hopes to increase breast cancer awareness through the month of Oct., rather than just one Friday of the month.

“Maybe even just having statistics, like breast cancer statistics or even highlighting any survivors, would be good,” Heckert said. “Having students understand more than just wearing one color. It’s easy to wear pink. Students should know exactly why it’s important.”

Senior Nikka Givpoor, Class of 2020’s MCR Rep, has some ideas about how to improve this event next year. 

“I think in the future we could do more, such as a bake sale at the game or a cookout, in order to raise awareness but also we could talk about how cancer has affected our lives,” Givpoor said. “I would probably have a cancer survivor come and talk at half time to give the community hope and teach us to fight any battle.”  

In the meantime, students can keep their pink sweatshirts and save them until next year’s Pink-Out Day. However, some students, like sophomore Queen Balina, plan to wear the sweatshirt all year-round. 

“I loved this year’s pink-out day. My favorite part was the showcasing of school spirit,” Balina said. “I really love pink, and it was nice to be able to wear a lot of pink and also let other people know about this important cause.”