A movement of pink
Viking nursing students make strides towards a cure for breast cancer
Erin Newbury
Issue date: 10/23/09 Section: Features
For family, for friends, for awareness, and for women everywhere - these are reasons why the Grand View Nursing team is running in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure at 9 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 24 at the capital building.
The reasons above illustrate what the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is about. In the Race for the Cure's 29-year history, it tops the world off as the largest set of 5K walk/runs. The race raises extensive amounts of money for breast cancer research and brings awareness to communities throughout the nation.
The Grand View nursing community has been forming teams to run in the Race for the Cure for a number of years and this year is no different. According to Ashley Japczyk, the Grand View Nursing Student Association Health & Community Service Chair, each month the nursing community chooses a community service project the students can volunteer for that is relevant to nursing within the city.
"I try to pick out things that are important for the nursing students and I try to pick out projects each month. This month's project is Race for the Cure," Japczyk said.
In previous years the team has been very small. According to Japczyk, the team was a total of 12 last year.
"It was a struggle to get people to sign up for the team last year. This year I've had people calling me to the last hour to sign up," Japczyk said.
This year's team consists of 35 people, a mix of students, faculty, family and friends, which triples the number involved last year. Japczyk suggested during one of the nursing board meetings the team should be open to the Grand View community to try to involve more students and faculty in this event.
"We feel as future nurses, we need to bring awareness to breast cancer and women's health in general. As nursing students, we will be there. Making a group and involving the community gives us a voice on the issue," Japczyk said.
Ashlee Whitfield, nursing junior, is also on the team and will be running for family and friends. "I recently lost a very close family friend who suffered from breast cancer along with many other things," Whitfield said. "You never know what is next in life."
The reasons above illustrate what the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is about. In the Race for the Cure's 29-year history, it tops the world off as the largest set of 5K walk/runs. The race raises extensive amounts of money for breast cancer research and brings awareness to communities throughout the nation.
The Grand View nursing community has been forming teams to run in the Race for the Cure for a number of years and this year is no different. According to Ashley Japczyk, the Grand View Nursing Student Association Health & Community Service Chair, each month the nursing community chooses a community service project the students can volunteer for that is relevant to nursing within the city.
"I try to pick out things that are important for the nursing students and I try to pick out projects each month. This month's project is Race for the Cure," Japczyk said.
In previous years the team has been very small. According to Japczyk, the team was a total of 12 last year.
"It was a struggle to get people to sign up for the team last year. This year I've had people calling me to the last hour to sign up," Japczyk said.
This year's team consists of 35 people, a mix of students, faculty, family and friends, which triples the number involved last year. Japczyk suggested during one of the nursing board meetings the team should be open to the Grand View community to try to involve more students and faculty in this event.
"We feel as future nurses, we need to bring awareness to breast cancer and women's health in general. As nursing students, we will be there. Making a group and involving the community gives us a voice on the issue," Japczyk said.
Ashlee Whitfield, nursing junior, is also on the team and will be running for family and friends. "I recently lost a very close family friend who suffered from breast cancer along with many other things," Whitfield said. "You never know what is next in life."
Be the first to comment on this story