Students Go Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness 

Since 2008, Peggy Holecek’s students at Glenbrook North High School have been designing and selling pink T-shirts to draw attention to October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Holecek, who is a broadcasting instructor and tennis coach at the Northbrook school, said the tennis team has been selling the T-shirts to the staff and students for the past five years. The tennis team, as well as the volleyball, golf and girls basketball teams, are encouraged to buy and wear the pink T-shirts. Those who purchase one of the 1,000 pink shirts that are sold annually wear them to school on a designated Friday when there is a home football game. That evening, as fans are decked out in pink, the poms squad and cheerleaders perform in their “GBN Goes Pink” shirts in a show of team spirit for the cause.

For the last two years, the school has been donating their proceeds from the shirts to the NorthShore Kellogg Cancer Center, and particularly to the Community Breast Health Program, which provides minority and high-risk women a medical home for breast cancer risk assessment and risk reduction education.

This past October, Holecek’s students elected to donate $3,500 of the total profits to NorthShore’s program. “The students are proud of making a difference,” said Holecek. “It connects our teams together and makes everyone proud of what they’re doing to help their community. They know in Northbrook that they’re given so much, and they feel a sense of responsibility to give back.”

If you want to learn more about NorthShore’s Community Breast Health Program, please contact John Hanson, PhD, at 224.364.7208.