October is breast cancer awareness month. In celebration of this, Sigma Lambda Gamma hosted their annual the Power of Pink event on Thursday, Oct. 11 in the Hughes-Trigg Commons where they played games and educated students about breast cancer.
“One of our philanthropies is breast cancer awareness, so we choose October as the month to have this event,” Jasmin Zamarripa, Sigma Lambda Gamma president, said. “We try to throw an event that’s going to bring people together, let them have a good time and most importantly empower woman.”
The Power of Pink had good attendance, with nearly 60 people in attendance according to Sigma Lambda Gamma’s check-in records.
“A lot of people came through and did the different stations,” Alexus Simpson, the moral and ethics chair, said. “One girl even read every fact on the sheet we had at a station. I told her this event is really impactful and makes you kind of want to get a mammogram.”
The event consisted of eight activities wrapped around the room while students intermittently participated in a cake walk. The activities were aimed at educating attendees about different breast cancer statistics.
One station called “Cancer Sucks” had students choose a lollipop then read facts that correlated to the color of the lollipop. Sophomore Alexa Clinton especially enjoyed this method of learning.
“I feel like I got information about breast cancer awareness and what I can do to help and why it’s important, rather than just listening to maybe like a lecture about the statistics of breast cancer,” Clinton said.
Another popular station that students frequented was a letter writing station where individuals could write letters to cancer patients. The letters will then be taken to the UT Southwestern Center for Breast Care for their patients to read.
“It’s a chance for people to have a more personal effect on breast cancer awareness as opposed to just like talking about it,” Madison Whitaker, a senior and active sister of Sigma Lambda Gamma, said. “Students can actually do something for people with breast cancer.”
The biggest attraction, however, was the cakewalk the sorority organized as the center piece of the event.
“My favorite part is the cakewalk because it brings me back to elementary school when we had Halloween fairs,” Zamarripa said. “I think it’s really memorable to leave here and then tell your friends ‘yeah, I won a whole cake.’”
There were six rounds of the game. Contestants would walk around in a circle on numbered spots until the music stopped. Then one lucky person would win a cake if they were standing on the winning number. Overall, it was the favorite game for event-goers, like Claire Johnson.
“It was a super fun experience and I ended up winning a cake, but I donated it to my friend,” Johnson, an alum of both SMU and the Phi chapter of Sigma Lambda Gamma, said.
