Runners to paint Whitby campus pink

The Paint it Pink run for breast cancer awareness promises lots of pink and fun. Photo credit: Danielle Medina

The Durham College Whitby campus is about to be painted pink.

A group of first-year Special Events Management is hosting a Paint it Pink run on the Whitby Campus this week.

Runners will wear white T-shirts so pink paint can be thrown on them as they run a course around the campus.

The run costs just $2 to enter but there’s more to it than raising money.

Christine Baily, a professor of the course, says the Paint it Pink run was created by students to create dialogue about breast cancer awareness.

“They were given the choice to determine what type of event they wanted to host. There was criteria that needed to be followed,” Baily says.

For example, the event must take place between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., when the class would typically run. The event must also take place on the DC Whitby campus. The groups must also follow a set budget of $150 given to them by the college.

“They work within a specific dollar amount, time frame and location. Which, from an event perspective, can make it pretty difficult because it really ties down your ability to be creative,” says Baily.

Danielle Medina, 17, is the lead in the group that organized the event. She says the event’s purpose is to promote awareness towards breast cancer.

“When the group got together we decided we wanted to do a colour run and when we realized it was breast cancer awareness month,” says Medina. “We just thought it would be a really great idea to help raise even more awareness for that cause. So we decided to make it a pink colour run.”

The event makes up 80 per cent of the students’ grade. More important for Medina is the opportunity to shed light on a topic she feels is important.

“It’s something that touches a lot of people’s lives. Whether you are personally a victim, or a family member is, or a friend, everyone can definitely name off the top of their head, someone who has been affected by cancer or by breast cancer,” she says.

The importance of the issue, prompted Medina and her team to create ‘Did you know?’ cards and FAQs along the route.

“It’s just to make people more informed. When people think breast cancer, they think pink ribbons, that it’s sad, but a lot of people don’t know the facts about it,” she says. “I think this event is very important and will help inform a lot of people about many different things about breast cancer that they may have not known about.”

The event has helped Medina connect this assignment to the real event management industry.

“A lot of the nitty gritty, technical things, I didn’t know about at first. I thought it was going to be easy,” she says. “But going to class and each team meeting, you just learn so much more.”

The event will be filled with activities, music and the chance to win prizes.

The event is set for Oct. 19 at the DC Whitby campus. All DC and UOIT students are invited to attend.

After the run, other Special Events Management students will host more events, such as Clash of the Cupcakes and Hunting for Spirit on Nov. 2, A Taste of Harvest on Nov. 9 and Get into Zen on Nov. 16.