By Melissa Brisco
Staff Writer

                During the day students tire of worksheets, textbooks and thing they feel are not applicable to the “real world”.

               Students in Deinhammer’s class were assigned projects to raise awareness about a cause of their choice. The students chose skin cancer as their cause because it is a cause that needing attention, while still relevant to the topic of anatomy.

The students broke up into groups and had to figure out different ways to get the word out about skin cancer.

“Some students did a public service announcement (PSA) for KCBY, other students designed posters and flyers to be hung around the school and others designed T-shirts to sell, and the other kids designed an ad for The Sidekick,” Deinhammer said.

The T-shirts will be available for sale within the next couple of months, and the profits gained from the sales will go to a foundation started by the parents of a former CHS student who died of skin cancer. The money will be donated to the Bradley O’Martin Melanoma Foundation.

Bradley O’Martin graduated from CHS is 1995, and in early 2005 he was diagnosed with stage III melanoma. He passed away at the end of that year. While at CHS one of his teachers was our current principal, Brad Hunt. About 15 students in Deinhammers classes offered to volunteer at the 2nd Annual “Mulligans for Melanoma”  Golf Classic put on by the Bradley O’Martin Melanoma Foundation.

After completing their projects, students collectively voted on which project in each category would be used.

“I think that our anatomy project will really get the message out about skin cancer and how to prevent and recognize it,” senior Alaina Wolf said. “We researched skin cancer and found out how to recognize it and how it affects your body. Then we created a T-shirt that can help others know about it as well.”

The majority of the project for the students was for them to research and learn more about the cause. 

“We had to research the types of skin cancer, how to prevent it, it was much more than just learning about skin cancer,” senior Kelly Marshall said. “I worked on the PSA for KCBY. My group tried to get across the point of putting on sunscreen, because that is the main way to prevent skin cancer.”

                Skin cancer is normally overlooked, but according to MD Anderson Cancer Center, skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States. Over one million cases are diagnosed each year, and 40- 50 percent of Americans will have skin cancer at least once in their lives.

The two most common forms of skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma which accounts for over 90 percent of skin cancer. Basal Cell Carcinoma is slow growing and rarely spread to other parts of the body, but if left untreated can spread to nearby areas and invade bones and other tissues under the skin.

The other most common type of skin cancer is squamous cell carcinoma. This type is much less common, but more aggressive. It is likely to grow deep beneath the skin and spread to other parts of the body.

Skin cancer is a cause that CHS students need to be conscious of. If you want to know more, or you would like to donate, visit: www.bradsmelanomafoundation.org