The Pella High student council is working with Pella Regional Hospital to inform people about breast cancer. They have a committee which consists of juniors Bailee Meyer, Ally Pronina, and Juliana VanGorp along with sophomores Lydia Taylor, Olivia Vanderleest, and Kaleb Nguyen. This committee does things like putting breast cancer facts in the announcements, decorating businesses’ windows the night of the paint the stands pink game, and selling t-shirts online. During the October 14 “Paint the Stands Pink” football game, they handed out pink pom-poms and bracelets along with face painting and giving spectateurs pink tattoos.
“Helping educate people helps with prevention or early detection, which can save lives and keep families together,” said Dak Rasmussen, student council advisor.
The t-shirts were worn during the October 14th football game. Spectaculars were encouraged to wear pink and the night was called “paint the stands pink.” The volleyball team did the same thing at their game on Tuesday, October 11.
While money was made from the t-shirts, there was also a lot of money spent for breast cancer awareness. So, the purpose of everything done at the game was to make people aware of breast cancer rather than raising money.
“My favorite part about spreading awareness is knowing that high school kids can go home to their moms and their friends, who are around the age of 40, and talk to them about mammograms and early detection,” said Meyer.
Student council has been been doing this for three years now and plans to continue promoting breast cancer awareness in the future.
“As long as the hospital is interested in having this program, we will continue to work with them,” said Rasmussen.
Meyer and VanGorp came with many of the ideas for this year’s campaign. They work with Cyndi Atkins, who is the Director of Marketing and Communication for Pella Regional Health Center.
“This is the third year I’ve worked with student council members to plan ‘Paint the Stand Pink.’ I have been impressed with student involvement,” said Atkins. “It’s exciting to see a group of young women spreading breast cancer awareness. It has been a real pleasure to work with Pella High school student council.”

•Ally Proninia, [email protected]