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Westside raises $20,000 at 14th annual Pink Day

November 10, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Avery Park

For the fourteenth year in a row, Westside Secondary School has created a sea of pink here in Orangeville.

Last Friday, Nov. 3, you may have seen some people around town wearing an excessive amount of pink. To put your curiosity to rest, those people were a part of Pink Day at Westside. This event is the biggest and the best at the high school, and everyone knows it. Everyone participates, gets involved, and most importantly, wears pink.

The day started at 7:15 a.m. with a pancake breakfast in the cafeteria. The school band was playing, and people from all around the community came to enjoy the food.

“We had some visitors from the Orangeville Police and from other schools like ODSS (Orangeville District Secondary School) and Centre Dufferin. Some principals were here, so that was awesome that I got to chat with them,” said Westside’s vice-principal, Ian Main.

After the breakfast, the school day started. Most classes don’t do a lot, because everyone is talking about the assembly and what you can do during classes. (There are a lot of ways to get out of class on Pink Day.)

In the cosmetology classroom, there was so much going on. All day, you could go and get your hair dyed pink, people would put your hair into boxer braids with some ribbons, and anyone could get their nails painted pink. There was also facepainting, and pink clothing being sold outside the classroom.

At lunch, there was a video games tournament in the library that you could pay to play in. There was also food for sale outside of the cafeteria, like pizza, drinks, popcorn, and cotton candy, and in the senior lounge, there was a photo booth for students to take fun pictures with their friends.

Throughout the day, some students talked a little bit about what they have participated in. Said grade 11 student Cameron Shimes, “I was in the games tournament, I bought a shirt and I bought some food for lunch. I’m also going to get my head shaved at the assembly. It’s all to raise money for cancer and it’s something that is very important at our school.” Cameron rose over $3, 000 to get his head shaved.

After lunch, people were busy getting the assembly ready, prepping themselves for a haircut or getting their legs waxed, and everyone was excited.

Mr. Main said, “We’d always hear about Pink Day at Westside. Being here now, it’s just an amazing event that brings the whole school together. I haven’t seen anything like it at any other school I’ve been at.”

The last period is reserved for the biggest part of the day, the Pink Day assembly in the gym. Lots of different people come and witness the event, because it is incredible to see all of the students rallied together for this cause.

“Wow, what a scene of pink,” local MPP Sylvia Jones said. “You all look absolutely great. I want to thank each and every one of you for helping to make this day what it is here in Orangeville.”

The assembly started with Cameron Shimes and Alex Mckinnon getting their heads shaved, and for an extra $100 raised on the spot, Alex shaved his beard. Others who got their heads shaved later in the assembly were Jared Taylor, Liam Green, Riley Boynton and science teacher Mike Manser.

There were also five lovely ladies who got their hair cut and donated it for the cause. They were Meghan Poole, Madison Sylvia, Isa Segreto, Michelle Barink and Jade Stannard. For Jade, this haircut was a last-minute decision and very unexpected. About an hour before the assembly, there was a group of 10 girls running around the school and yelling that Jade was going to cut her hair.

Jade said, “It’s my last Pink Day, and I’ve been growing my hair since grade nine. It kind of suits the day, but I’m pretty stressed out and wasn’t ready to do this. By the assembly I want to get $500 to cut off 10 inches, and my hair is very long.” The girls ended up with over $600, so she cut off her well-known, long hair.

Another way people raised money for getting hair removed was with three brave men getting their legs waxed in front of the whole school. The first was history teacher Landry Britton, who had recovered nicely from his waxing last year, and toughed it out again this year. Next was Jared Taylor, who had already shaved his head. Last was the Mystery Man, who was so covered in pink clothing, you couldn’t tell who he was, but for $50 his identity was revealed.

The Pink Day Mystery Man, also known as grade 12 student Cameron Butler, shared what his day looked like. “I’ve raised $110 to wax my legs, and completely dressed my entire body in pink. Everyone expected a crazy experience, and it’s been a fun time at the assembly.”

The teachers got very involved with the Teacher Trivia. There were groups of three teachers that would face-off against each other, and try to answer questions about Orangeville or that were related to pink. Some questions were a bit difficult for the teachers, and they had to get help from the students, but they got through them all.

One of Westside’s math teachers, Robert Marchildon, called out those who thought they could beat him in a free throw competition. You either made the shot, or you were out, and Mr. Marchildon didn’t make it past the first round. But a couple of students got one shot, and only one made the second shot. Jamie Wright, who was on the junior girls’ basketball team, won the competition, and made all of her basketball girls proud.

A grade nine gym teacher also decided to make a bet with her students. If they could raise $200, Marisa Kurtz would reveal the gender of her baby to the whole school. They did achieve their goal, and in a very suspenseful balloon popping, it was revealed that the baby is a girl!

One of the last events was tug-of-war between the students. There were several rounds of this, and everybody pulled as hard as they could. The girl’s rugby team participated, along with many groups of friends. A few teachers joined at the end of the rope, it seemed a little last minute, but lets assume they were supposed to be there.

At the end of the assembly, it was estimated that the school rose well over $19,000, but the updated number is now over $20,000. Everyone is very proud that once again, the community has been able to achieve this amount of support for the Breast Cancer Society of Canada (BCSC) and their Dress for the Cause campaign.

“My whole entire heart is at Westside,” one of Pink Day’s organizers, Nicholle Jones, says. “When I come to events like this, it just makes me so proud to be a part of this community, the Westside community and the Orangeville community too. I love being here, I love working here, and I love all the kids.”

Never in her wildest dreams did she think Westside would out-pink last year, “We didn’t anticipate another year like last year, where it was really, really big, and we never thought this year would be as big,” Mrs. Jones continues. “We are thrilled beyond our imagination that we have done it again.”

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