Pink-out for cancer awareness returns to Stamford High
After not being able to hold the Pink-Out to support breast cancer awareness last year in person, the annual week-long event is coming back to Stamford High.
Organizers said the interest and enthusiasm from the students has been exceptional and they are hoping this year will be the biggest one in the nine-year history of the event.
“It’s a great school spirit event. We have so many kids wanting to be a part of it this year and we have already sold over 600 shirts. This is going to be a big one,” Stamford teacher and coach Jeremy White said. “I think a lot of the excitement this year has to do with them missing being a part of something. We have a great community in this school and this event brings everyone together.”
White, along with fellow teacher and coach Diane Burns, are two of the driving forces behind the event which not only serves as a schoolwide coming together but also raises money through donations and t-shirt sales.
T-shirts are on sale now at the school and through the online school store with the formal pink-out week beginning next Monday with a 4 p.m. home games in field hockey and boys soccer, both against Staples.
Boys soccer will also be home for rival Westhill Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Girls soccer plays at home Thursday at 4 p.m. when it hosts Norwalk.
In 2019, the event expanded from just being held at a football game to being stretched over a week with every home athletic game being part of the pink-out.
The school raised over $9,000 in 2019 and are hoping the renewed excitement
will lead to even more donations this year.
“We are hoping for a big turnout to games all week,” Stamford athletic director Chris Passamano said. “This event is personal for a lot of people unfortunately. My mom had cancer twice, thankfully she’s still here. I am one of a million stories of people who are touched personally by this. This is the biggest event of the year here. It’s not just a football thing, not a sports things, it’s an everybody thing.”
Stamford has raised over $80,000 in nine years and are hoping to break $100,000 in the next two years.
As it has since 2018, all proceeds will be donated to the Bennett Cancer Center in Stamford.
This year, in addition to the sporting events, there will be a fall carnival on the softball field prior to the football game Saturday, Oct. 16 at noon against Trumbull.
“A bunch of kids will set up carnival games and they can win tickets for prizes,” White said. “We wanted to do it on a Saturday this year to make it more of a family event. We wanted to bring more people in by having more going on besides the game. There will be a place set up in the carnival where people can continue to donate.”
In the past, the school has sold pink shirts to raise money for the cause but this year went with black shirts with a pink school logo and breast cancer ribbon on them.
White said they will be encouraging students to wear their throwback pink-out shirts during the week along with the new ones.
“This is kind of new for 50% of the kids in the building since the sophomores and freshmen have never done the pink-out,” Passamano said. “We are kind of starting over but we are expecting a big turnout at all the events and we think we will have a really nice crowd for the football game October 16 against Trumbull. We try to focus on helping out locally and with all this money going to Stamford right across the street to the Bennett Cancer Center, we are doing that.”