Seymour High School students win no-tanning pledge contest

SEYMOUR - Seymour High School students participated in the Melanoma Foundation of New England’s 6^th annual Your Skin Is In No-Tanning Pledge contest from January to April. It was held at high schools and colleges across New England.

The program was coordinated here by Seymour Schools Director of Security Rich Kearns and Seymour High School Health Teacher Nick Aprea.

The Melanoma Foundation of New England’s program educates teens on the dangers of tanning and the direct link between tanning beds and melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. 

Schools that gathered the required percentage of No-Tanning Pledges from teens were entered into a raffle to win cash, gift certificates, and trips to Six Flags New England. 

Seymour High School students Julia Maturo, Kristina Biblekaj, Margaret Bruce and Abigail Lynch took things a step further and held an assembly for 11^th and 12^th grade students. 

At the assembly teens were informed of the dangers of tanning, viewed a PowerPoint presentation and heard stories of people who suffered the harmful effects of tanning.       

According to Deb Girard, Melanoma Foundation of New England Executive Director, “Teens want to believe that ‘it can’t happen to them,’ or that it’s safe to just get a ‘base tan’ before the prom or before spring break. The truth is that tanning booths emit up to 15 times more UV radiation than the sun. There is no such thing as a safe tan.” 

Girard said, “Through Your Skin Is In we’ve been able to reach a quarter million students over the past five years and we hope the message resonates throughout adulthood. By taking the No-Tanning Pledge these students become empowered to take charge of their own health, and become advocates for safe skin-care.”

On behalf of the Melanoma Foundation of New England for participating in the Your Skin Is In program and for creating awareness about the dangers of tanning, Seymour High School was chosen as one of two winners from Connecticut.

Seymour High School will receive a $500 award for its participation in informing teens about the  dangers of tanning and  gathering pledges of 75.85 percent of the 11^th and 12^th grade classes at Seymour High School.

The other contest winner in Connecticut is Global Experience Magnet School in Bloomfield.

This post is taken from a press release.