North Star Academy

Were you surprised to learn about the problems faced by the students at North Star Academy? If no one knows a problem exists, nothing can be done about it.

Learn more about the challenges (and successes) of being deaf in a hearing world, and see what other groups are doing to meet these challenges, visit: http://www.nad.org today!

Groups work to sting cancer

May 4, 2008
(Special thanks to the Green Bay Press Gazette for permission to reproduce this article)

Preble High, breast cancer foundation plans 'Wear Yellow Day'

By Kelly McBride
kmcbride@greenbaypressgazette.com

The city known for its green and gold will be blanketed in the latter color May 13 if two local cancer organizations have their way.

"Wear Yellow Day" is just one way thousands of cancer fighters across Brown County are looking to raise awareness, celebrate survival and hopefully lure champion cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong to the frozen tundra.

Green Bay Preble High School's Sting Cancer organization and the Breast Cancer Family Foundation are spearheading local LIVESTRONG Day events in conjunction with the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Armstrong will visit a school that completes the "LIVESTRONG at School" challenge outlined by the foundation. The winner of that contest will be announced May 13.

But more than that, said Sting Cancer adviser Nick Nesvacil — himself a nearly 12-year cancer survivor — the group hopes to spread the word and encourage other schools to join in the fight against the disease.

"It's sad but true that everybody has been affected by cancer," said Nesvacil, who was diagnosed with brain cancer when he was a freshman at St. Norbert College in De Pere. "When I started here five years ago, I had some scars and the bald head and those things, so people asked me what happened, and I told my story, and other people have told their story." "It's just been a very therapeutic group for all people to come together and help those with cancer. Everybody has been affected, and everybody wants to help in some way."

One in two of today's teenage boys and one in three teenage girls will get cancer at some point in their lives, said Kay VanBoxel, director of operations for the Breast Cancer Family Foundation.

Both organizations' goals include prevention, promotion of healthy living and support when cancer does strike. The partnership between the organizations is a good fit, both say, and combining their numbers can only improve their dedication to the cause.

Sting Cancer has grown to include around 220 students and 13 advisers, while the Breast Cancer Family Foundation makes 180 presentations a year to more than 4,000 area students, among other efforts, officials said.

The groups recently acquired another ally when Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt agreed to officially proclaim May 13 "Wear Yellow Day" in the city.

Other events for the day and week include a Locks of Love haircutting event, a survivor vigil and a battle of the bands. Organizers hope all Green Bay School District students and staff — about 23,000 people — will wear yellow, along with as many people as possible from the larger community.

Preble students and staff plan to make a chain of survival with some 2,300 paper links — one for each student and staff member to celebrate someone affected by cancer — to display at the May 13 survivor vigil.

Sting Cancer hopes to start a "pay it forward" system in which it could provide seed money to another school to start a cancer group, and that school would agree to provide seed money for the next school, Nesvacil said.

Students who have gotten involved in the Preble group say the benefits for their peers at other schools could be myriad.

Sting Cancer officials think the group is the only one of its kind at a high school in the country.

"I thought I would just help out here and there, but I got really involved," said Preble junior Bailey Hearley, who has had family members with cancer. "Some of them didn't make it,
but some did. … Knowing that we can help families go through that hard time just really means a lot."

Putting time and energy into cancer causes can be difficult at times, for instance when someone loses a friend or family member to the disease.

But participants from both groups say it's worth it.

"Cancer is what unites us," VanBoxel said. "But it doesn't define us."

See the original article

Sting Cancer

In Sting Cancer, students joined together to help those in their community fighting cancer to meet their everyday needs. Could you start a group like Sting Cancer in your area?

For more information about Sting Cancer, visit:
http://www.classzoom.com/green_bay/web_pages/Sting_Cancer and get started today!

FREE LEARNING KIT AVAILABLE!
The producers of the Emmy nominated Independent Lens program, “A Lion in the House,” are offering free youth service-learning project kits to people interested in helping those affected by childhood cancer. These cross-curricular, service-learning kits also offer materials for middle school and high school students based on national academic standards.

Ideas for developing projects include creating a website, welcoming back a classmate who has been treated for cancer, creating backpacks for siblings of children with cancer, organizing blood drives, making quilts and much more. Each kit is contains projects designed to make a difference as well as ideas to teach students about the many effects childhood cancer has on families and communities.

For more information visit www.mylion.org

Youth Rebuilding New Orleans

Rebuilding New Orleans (http://www.yrno.com) shows how a small group of people are making a difference in one of the largest disaster areas in the United States. Craigslist, a national classifieds database, is one of many sites where volunteers can coordinate their efforts.

If you’re looking for a cause to get behind, you won’t have to look very far. http://neworleans.craigslist.org/vol