No matter who you are or where you live, breast cancer may touch your life. Breast Cancer Awareness Month, held in October every year, aims to promote screening and prevention of the disease, which affects 2.3 million women worldwide.

Known best for its pink theme color, the month features a number of campaigns and programs — conducted by groups ranging from breast cancer advocacy organizations to local community organizations to major retailers — aimed at supporting people diagnosed with breast cancer. Two Callaway High School students are hosting an event to help raise awareness for Breast Cancer and to support a local woman who recently received that diagnosis.

Maggie Birkel and Jazlyn Bechtold are both seniors at CHS and members of the Callaway High School FCCLA chapter. Jazlyn has been involved in the chapter since seventh grade and serves as the chapter president this year. She convinced her friend Maggie to join this year for the first time.

“FCCLA has a variety of things you can do for each grade level and ways to get involved in the community,” Jazlyn explained, saying that was what prompted her to initially get involved with the organization.

It did not take much convincing to talk Maggie into giving FCCLA a try. “I was looking for something different to do my senior year,” she shared with a giggle.

Jazlyn explained that when she and Maggie decided to do a breast cancer walk their first thought was to donate the funds to an organization. “But then Maggie suggested we donate the money to a community member, and that’s when we got more of an ambition to do it,” she added.

“We talked to some local people and found out Keri Patterson was diagnosed with breast cancer, so we

cont. PAGE 6 - FCCLA Walk reached out to her and asked if she would be interested in allowing us to donate our funds to her,” Maggie shared. “She said that would be great, so then we really starting running with it.”

The girls admitted that there was a lot more planning to putting an event like this together than what they expected. “I was surprised at all the details. We are in charge of all of it, and it is a lot of work,” said Maggie.

Jazlyn and Maggie will host a Breast Cancer Awareness 5K on Saturday, Oct. 21. The walk will start and end at the Callaway Community Center. Registration is at 8:30 a.m. and the walk will begin at 9:00. Walking, running, and even bike riding are allowed for a free-will donation. All proceeds will go toward medical expenses for Keri Patterson. Snacks and water will be provided after the race.

The walk is being used as the girls’ FCCLA Star Project. Jazlyn explained that using it for their project requires more documentation and planning than a walk would typically entail.

“People have asked if they can just donate because they will be out of town or have other plans that day, and that is totally fine too,” said Maggie.

The girls also sold T-shirts for the event, with half of the money from the sale of the shirts going toward Patterson’s expenses.

Jazlyn explained that one of the guidelines for the Star Project is attendance for the event of at least 70 people. “We have to include the specific times that we worked on the project for the timeline. We don’t have to include pictures, but we do have to have all of the specific details,” said Jazlyn.

“It all goes into a presentation that we will present at our district competition, and if we score high enough there we will move on to state and hopefully on to nationals,” Maggie added.

The FCCLA chapter will host a “STAR Night” in January which will allow the public to see and hear all of the students’ presentations prior to the district competition. This year’s nationals will be held in Seattle. “Not only do we want to help our community, but we really want to go to nationals,” Maggie shared with a smile.

Anyone who cannot attend the 5K but would like to donate to the cause can drop off their donation at Callaway Public Schools or you may contact Jazlyn Betchold at 308-870-0666 or Maggie Birkel at 308-880-0855.