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 The event was organized by Northwest Fourth Grade
Teacher Tammy Dietrich.
Students gathered outside for a special assembly before beginning
their mini-relay and going around to stations. Between the schools
there are over 250 students in grades kindergarten through fifth.
Northwest Principal Chris Allen shared some startling statistics
about cancer with the children. He said every year 14,000,000 people
worldwide are told they have cancer.
Allen said, “Today is not only going to be a fun day, but a day
where we learn about taking care of ourselves.” He told the
students, we will learn why it is important to take care of our skin
and why it is important to not just sit on the couch playing video
games and eating a bag of Doritos all day.
Allen said the day was all about cancer, and when he asked how many
knew someone with cancer, many raised their hands.
Students would learn about how to protect themselves, how to
practice sun safety, why it is important to not take up smoking, and
how to take care of their bodies.
Allen said that between the ages of 0 and 49, one out of 30 males
will hear they have cancer and one of 18 females will hear they have
cancer. He said that would be about one out of every person in each
class will have cancer.
Allen said as we walk and play today, everything is in the name of
helping people try to raise awareness for cancer and try to find
ways to cure cancer.
Students at both schools had been participating in a coin war for
the last three weeks. Adams raised $150. Mrs. Dietrich and Mr. Allen
set the goal for Northwest at $500, but students passed that amount
in four days. They kept raising the goal and finally, students had
raised over $1,500 and Allen expected the amount to reach $1,700 by
the end of the day.
Allen said all the money would be going to the Relay for Life and
would help cancer patients with transportation needs to get to the
hospital, help them if they need to stay in a hotel during
treatment, and help with treatment.
Allen said the overall winner of the coin war was Mrs. Allsup’s
class with 10,373 points.
When it was time for the relay segment, Mr. Allen called up the
cancer survivors, which included four school staff. Survivors were
given flowers and asked to lead the children in the first lap around
the course.
One survivor was Royce Scales (in white hat). In 2012, Scales had a
three-pound malignant tumor removed from his intestine. Scales said
he is one of about 2,000 people with this cancer and he went to
Houston, Texas to sign up for a research study.
Scales said his cancer was dormant last year, but he has two CAT
scans every year since it could return or stay away, but they must
watch it. He is in fairly decent health, works all the time, and
doesn’t look back.
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Besides taking laps around the course, students also went to one
of several stations to learn about sun safety, dance, do Cosmic kids yoga, color
pictures for the June 16 Relay for Life, try healthy foods, and slide down a
blow-up slide.
At the sun safety station, students learned several myths about sun cancer such
as sun damage not being possible on a windy, cloudy, or cold day; not being able
to get burnt through a window; and people with dark skin not being at risk for
skin cancer. They also learned that sunscreen should not be used to extend the
amount of time spent in the sun.
Students also learned signs of skin cancer such as asymmetrical spots, border
spots, more than one shade of spots, and spots that have a large diameter. They
would learn to “slip on a shirt, slap on some sunscreen, slap on a hat, and wrap
on sunglasses” and experiment what happens with different types of SPF.
At another station, students learned about what smoking does to lungs. The
children were asked to jump, then plug their noses and try breathing through a
straw because that is what cigarettes do to the lungs. They saw what a smoker’s
lungs looked like, what healthy lungs looked like, and how hard it is for lungs
to pump when one smokes, and learned that lungs can recover up to 97% in the
years after someone stops smoking.
Tonita Reifsteck, who has worked with the Relay for Life for many years, said
that some people are now using a Juul Vaper, which is like smoking eight
cigarettes at a time. Reifsteck said when she worked at a hospital she could
always tell the moms who had smoked during their pregnancy because the pillows
would turn yellow as the baby breathed on it.
Angie Whiteman of the Coordinated Approach to Health (CATCH) program had
children spin a wheel and then do whatever exercise they spun. Whiteman taught
them movements they could do even when playing video games.
At the dancing station, students did coordinated dancing movements following
along with a Go Noodle video.
At the Yoga station students learned and practices several yoga positions.
At the bouncy house students could climb and then slide down a blow-up slide.
To practice healthy eating, students were also able to sample fresh pears at one
station.
All the day’s activities helped support the upcoming Relay for Life, which will
be held Saturday, June 16th from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. inside the Jack Nutt Arena in
the Lincoln Center at Lincoln College.
[Angela Reiners] |
