Every Oct. 24 to 28 since 2000, Trinity Prep has recognized and fundraised for Breast Cancer Awareness Week. However, this year was different: sophomore student council officers shifted from Breast Cancer Awareness Week to All Cancer Awareness Week.

   The sponsor and adviser of the sophomore student council, Stephen Strickler, played a key role in turning this idea into reality. He was supportive when student council pitched the idea because they argued that expanding the fundraiser would bring more support from the student body. 

   “Breast cancer is a really big deal, but there are plenty of people here on campus who have family members or people that have been affected by other types of cancer,” Strickler said. 

   According to the CDC and American Cancer Society, 605,213 people die from cancer but only 43,700 die from breast cancer.  This means that breast cancer only accounts for 7.2% of all cancer deaths.

   “Raising awareness for those other types and the treatments that could go towards those types helped engage a whole lot more people,” Strickler said. 

   Strickler also said that changing Breast Cancer Awareness to All Cancer Awareness helped further the student council’s goal of raising money to help with treatments.

   “I think the fact that we did Cancer Awareness Week really presents an opportunity for us to not just raise more money, but to accomplish our ultimate goal which is to educate people on how cancer could affect people, instead of just focusing on one [type of cancer],” Strickler said.

   Donated to the American Cancer Society, the money fundraised from Cancer Awareness Week totaled $1,106, compared to the $2,653 raised last year from Breast Cancer Awareness Week.

   Sophomore student council representative Ben Demetriades was one of the students pushing for the change, originally suggested by sophomore student council president Gustavo Membreno.

   “As a 10th-grade student council, we thought that, by only focusing on breast cancer awareness, we were ignoring a bunch of people who were affected by other cancers, like, for example, my family,” Demetriades said. “We’ve been affected by a lot of cancers, like breast cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and bowel cancer. We felt that it was a better idea to expand it to all these cancers because although people are affected by breast cancer, more people are affected by other cancers.” 

   According to Demetriades, the administration was open to the suggested change.

   “When we talked to the admin about it, they were all on board,” Demetriades said. “Their only hesitation was about the fact that one teacher died of breast cancer, but all of them are really on board and they just want to make sure that everyone else is OK with it.”

   Eighth-grader Philip Bove had someone very close to him affected by cancer. His mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when he was in just 5th grade.

   “I remember it was every other day and [my mom’s friends] would make meals for us,” Bove said. “My dad was gone most of the day and my mom was in bed 90% of the time, just getting up to go to the bathroom. I feel like one thing that kept me going was my dog. He would cuddle with my mom and me.”

  Bove supported the overall change.

   “If you really just focus on breast cancer … it doesn’t include everyone,” Bove said. “And if you include all cancers, it includes everyone instead of leaving them out.”

   Bove emphasizes the fact that you need to have a positive attitude and not listen to bad thoughts.

  “It’s going to be tough for most of the journey,” Bove said. “Keep your hopes up and don’t give up. Keep persevering and think about the situation a year or two from now. Think about how everything could potentially be a lot better, and focus on the positive aspects because your negative thoughts will absolutely ruin how you see the situation.”