Dougherty Valley American Cancer Society (ACS) club hosted the annual pink out football game to raise money and awareness for breast cancer on Oct. 7, and even with the Football team losing 42-0, the ACS was still able to largely benefit from the event. 

Every year ACS collaborates with the football team to raise money and awareness for breast cancer patients. The club raises money during the event by selling merchandise such as t-shirts and other merchandise, which also drums up support for the fight against breast cancer.

The club president, senior Sameeha Ahmed, further elaborated on the impact of the club’s message and goal, and as to why it is important to many in our community as well. 

Ahmed said, “You’d be surprised at how many people in our school community are actually impacted by cancer.  can ask pretty much anyone, and they know someone who either is a survivor of cancer or who has cared for a cancer patient. And I think the work we do is really impactful. And the community we built  is really important.”

To help build and fund a community that supports the battle against cancer, the school also found unique ways to spread awareness. 

During halftime, the song team also featured a dance alongside with youth girls in the community, to all come together and support the cause, while also creating a memorable experience. 

Out of the girls in pink, Juliette Pritchard, a third grader, was an avid participant in the performance done alongside the Song team. 

Pritchard describes her experience and noted, “ It was really really fun… I was nervous at first, but then I [felt] like, ‘oh this is pretty cool’.” 

"I want to be able to give back to that community.”

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Other elementary schoolers in the groups all found the experience to be enlightening and memorable as they were able to celebrate a good cause while still experiencing high school culture and performing in front of so many people. 

With the song team performers swapping their uniforms for their ACS shirts, the cheer team performing with special pink pom poms, the football team repping pink socks, shirts and eyeblack and the spirited student section, ACS’ efforts resulted in a promising turn out. The club noticed an increase in student support for the cause from last year.. 

“I think just in general, there’s  a lot more hype around ACS. And also, last year, I know we only ordered about 40 shirts to sell . . . this year, we actually ordered around 150, which is a really big change; but we’re almost out of them, which is insane. So I think people are really passionate about [the] cause this year, which is great,” Ahmed commented. 

However, the pink out football game is definitely not the ACS biggest event during the year. The club also hosts Lights of Hope every year, where guest speakers talk about their experiences with cancer and the community comes together to listen and raise money. Another notable event is Relay for Life in the springtime where students take part in a 24 hour relay to acquire money, and During the rest of the school year, the club collaborates with local restaurants for fundraising events. 

Noah Kopp, an English teacher at Dougherty Valley, was a volunteer, and helped the ACS booth at the game and felt very passionate about the cause. 

Kopp exclaimed, “ I think everyone should support [ACS], and you should give a bajillion dollars to it every day!”