Pink was the color of the week for Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA) while they hosted their semesterly “Think Pink” week in support of breast cancer education and awareness from Oct. 21 to Oct. 25.
Throughout the week, ZTA held tablings from 12-3 p.m. on the Green, including Monday’s sponsorship with Swoon’s Pink Lemonade beverage, Tuesday’s bra-sketball, Wednesday’s pie-a-Zeta and bake sale, and Thursday’s teddy bear sale. On Friday, they closed the week off with their main event, the Think Pink Gala at 6:30 p.m.
“If you saw our student bra-sketball, you’d be like ‘what the heck’ which can be weird at first, but we have to take efforts to really spread that awareness,” said Jasmine Goretskie, a junior business management and marketing major. “Sometimes it is doing those bold things.”
Goretskie is currently the director of philanthropy and will be switching to vice president of programming this year. In her new position, she will have more responsibility planning and executing events as well as work with officers to form the event calendar.
Goretskie said they are trying to help people realize that you can get breast cancer earlier than you think.
“We want to have awareness during the entire year,” Goretskie said. “Breast cancer doesn’t sleep.”
Maryn Megquier, a junior communication major with a minor in public relations, is the Think Pink chair working with Goretskie. She helped plan the tablings for the week and the gala.
“I was also in charge of Think Pink last semester, but because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, it’s definitely a bigger deal for us,” Megquier said. “I think it went super well.”
ZTA started their week participating in the “Making Strides Walk” in Newark on Sunday, Oct. 20 at Mulberry Commons Park. In addition to the Newark walk, some members of ZTA participated in the walk-in in Jersey City on Oct. 13 at Liberty State Park.
“We help organize the survivors' tent, and in Jersey City, we led the walk, which was so awesome,” Mgquire said. “We talked to survivors, and we heard their stories. For someone like me who doesn’t have a woman in my life who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, that’s like how I get to see, and it validates all the work we do behind the scenes.”
Along with the tablings, ZTA debuted a candle vigil at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 21 on the Galleon Lawn to honor those who lost their battle against breast cancer.
“We made a banner, and we had everybody that attended put their handprint on the banner,” Megquier said. “Then, I read a short speech, and we all had candles. It was honestly another way for us to honor survivors when we’re not asking people for money, and we’re not telling people about it. We are just honoring the people that have lost their battle with [breast cancer].”
On Wednesday night, ZTA held its Bat for Breast Cancer event after it was moved from the initial date because of its closeness to fall break. The event was a baseball game where different sororities and fraternities on campus formed teams to play in support of breast cancer awareness.
“We had a few different teams pop out,” Goretskie said. “AGD [Alpha Gamma Delta] actually won, so that was cool. It was short and sweet. It is always really cool when you have different members of the community come out and support you.”
At every tabling and their gala, ZTA highlighted the statistic that one in eight women will have breast cancer in their lives.
Alexandra Schmitt, a junior elementary special education major, said this is “an upsetting statistic” and expressed the importance of women caring for themselves.
“I think it’s important because as women, we do a lot to take care of others, but it’s really important to take care of ourselves as well,” Schmitt said.
This was ZTA’s third time holding the Think Pink Gala. Schmitt said the gala was a moving experience.
“All of our parents, friends, and family come, and we celebrate our goals and achievements that we’ve made throughout the year,” Schmitt said. “We have someone from the American Cancer Society explaining her story.”
Along with speakers, ZTA had raffle baskets at the gala as the final count for donations for the week.
“It’s super empowering to be able to talk about something that is so near and dear to my heart,” Schmitt said. “I feel like it’s inspiring to continue being a part of something so great and to have ideas flow to make it better every year.”
By the end of the week, ZTA raised around $3,200 for the American Cancer Society. They announced their total during their gala.
“It was amazing,” Goretskie said. “In one week, [raising all that money] is incredible.”
Calla Patino is the copy editor for The Setonian’s Campus Life Section. She can be reached at calla.patino@student.shu.edu.
