Students Win “Best New Student Organization of the Year” Award
The Collegiate Cancer Council (CCC), a student-run cancer awareness and health disparities organization, was formed one year ago by 18 students from the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the College of Education at the University of Houston. After their attendance at the Ninth Biennial Symposium on Minorities, the Medically Underserved, and Cancer – hosted by the Intercultural Cancer Council and Baylor College of Medicine – the students were inspired to take on the issues of cancer awareness and health disparities at the University of Houston and in the Third Ward Community. The CCC took the campus and the community by storm in its inaugural year, earning the students the award for the University of Houston’s “Best New Student Organization of the Year.”
In just one year since its creation, the CCC has welcomed nearly one dozen speakers on cancer and health disparities at its general meetings and co-hosted a Breast Cancer Survivor’s Brown Bag Luncheon and roundtable with the Women’s Resource Center. Perhaps most significant, the Collegiate Cancer Council held the first annual campus-wide skin cancer screening. Nearly 100 students, faculty, and staff came out on a Saturday morning to have their skin, blood pressure, and vision screened. The CCC also took their message to the community, participating in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, racing in the Gulf Coast Regional Dragonboat Regatta, and providing educational materials about cancer prevention to hundreds of community members.
Additionally, the CCC received $2,500.00 in grants from the American Medical Association Foundation and Youth Venture to create an innovative “Cancer Control Toolbox,” which will provide information about cancer and regional health care resources to the diverse greater Houston community. The students of the Collegiate Cancer Council endeavor to be a resource in the community where they receive their education and look forward to many more successful years ahead.
