Terriers unite to save the ‘ta-ta’s’ for Zeta Tau Alpha’s Think Pink Week
According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. This daunting statistic does does not go unnoticed by the Wofford community. Every year throughout the month of October, a variety of different teams and student organizations show their support for those who are affected by this disease in different ways, and this year was no different.
To kick off their annual Think Pink week, Zeta Tau Alpha “pinked out” the campus: the lights shining on the Wofford sign and in the fountain were replaced with pink ones, pink streamers were wrapped around stairway railings, pink chalk quotes covered the sidewalks and even the terrier statue outside the campus life building donned a hot pink feather boa. Then, after the campus was officially enveloped in pink, the sorority offered a variety of events throughout the week to make sure the Wofford community stayed aware of the cause.
Molly Humphries, senior and ZTA Vice President, said, “Throughout the week, we hope to unite the Wofford community together to fight this cause. We aim to provide information about early detection, what they can do in this fight against breast cancer, and to always ‘Think Pink’.”
The week of Oct. 22 was filled with events like pink pumpkin painting, a campus-wide photo of those wearing the color pink and the passing out of pink cotton candy and pink lemonade. ZTA also held a “Think Pink Penny War” where a selected representative from each of the school’s fraternities had a jar present at each ZTA event. Throughout the week, the jars collected change and as Humphries said, “the ones who do not raise the most money will dye their hair pink.” Not only is this a fun and easy way to raise extra money for the cause, but “through this, ZTA hopes to have more people involved in this cause, and also reach so many more people that we wouldn’t be able to on our own,” said Humphries.
In this midst of this crazy fun week, the sorority hosted the Crown Classic—one of two major events that the sorority puts on each year. The event was a cornhole tournament with music and catered food. Olivia Miller and Holly Moyd, two sophomore members of the sorority, agreed in saying, “It’s honestly just fun to raise money for such a good cause. We have to sell tickets to family or businesses around Spartanburg, or anybody really—students, community members, family from out of town—and it’s cool to see how many people are eager to participate or donate.” In order to obtain an optimal outcome, the women of the sorority offered incentives to sell the most tickets, something that is very competitive because of the popularity of the event.
Moyd and Miller said, “Gift baskets—a compilation of gifts from small businesses in Spartanburg—go to the cornhole team that wins the tournament. It’s full of great stuff, too, from places like Fr8 Yard, Two Doors Down and Hub City Bookstore.” This year, said gift baskets were awarded to Wofford juniors Andrew Sargent and Walt Stevens after they claimed the title of ‘2018 Crown Classic Champions.’
Midway through the week, the sorority had raised nearly $10,000, which isn’t a surprise, as Humphries said, “Over the past two years, our chapter has been recognized for our contributions to this philanthropy for raising over $50,000 in two years.”
To finish off the week, ZTA hosted their Think Pink football game — Wofford’s Oct. 27 game against Mercer. Aside from giving away the previously mentioned free pink rally towels, stickers and ribbons were handed out as well, reminding the Wofford community to always “Think Pink.” At the tailgate prior to the kickoff, there were games, such as Bra Pong, an interactive banner encouraging people to write why they “think pink,” and a photo booth.
Wofford’s football team’s motto is “Define the standard.” Recently the question of what this really means has been posed. In theory, the standard anyone strives for is “the best.” Jacorie McCall, assistant equipment manager intern for the team, stated, “The phrase “the best” is thrown around so much because people crave a title, but the title of the best must be earned and not given.” To answer the question, “What does ‘define the standard’ mean?”, we must ask the question, “How can we strive to be ‘the best’?” According to McCall, the football team can achieve this by “making the program the most that it can be by being a part of something bigger than just this team, and this month that means being a part of breast cancer awareness.”
Each week, the football coaches, players and personnel are given a devotional and for this particular week week—the week of Oct. 15—the devotional had a pink ribbon attached to it. Additionally, the Wofford Athletics and Recreation Committee provided the funds needed to supply a pink ribbon sticker to go on each football player’s helmet.
McCall said, “By wearing ribbons and putting stickers on our helmets we hope to share that we support those who struggle. I think football across the country does a good job of making people know that breast cancer is problem. What’s important is to make sure they have the funds they need so that they can find the cure. Hopefully we can help with that.”
At Wofford’s home game against Mercer, Wofford’s Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, whose philanthropy supports breast cancer awareness, partnered with the team to hand out pink rally towels to fans. Aside from working with the football team, ZTA strives to do everything possible to “ensure that we do all that we can in the fight against breast cancer,” Humphries stated.
To make this event even more special to Wofford, at the start of the game, breast cancer survivors and special members of the Wofford family—Professor Sellers, Officer Cathy, Dean Bigger and Lisa DeFreitas— conducted the coin toss. Following this, everyone who has been affected by this disease (survivors and their friends and family) were asked to stand. Humphries said, “This will allow everyone to see not only the magnitude of this disease, but also the incredible support system that Wofford provides for those who are facing this difficult and horrible disease.”
It is safe to say that the Wofford community is proud to support those who are battling this horrible disease and are eager to do anything they can to help spread awareness.
