Students at CedarBridge Academy have donated over $10,000 to the TB Cancer & Health Association in the last two years.

Breast cancer awareness was raised on campus through the school?s Think Pink project. Over 100 students and 25 teachers took part last year. Schoolteacher Nadia Tuckett was the driving force behind the programme.

She has a family history of breast cancer ? her sister and aunt are survivors.

She was a teenager when she lost her mother to the disease ? an experience that she said rocked her foundation. In college overseas at the time, the pressure of her studies was additional stress and looking back she?s proud that she was able to get through it.

?Losing my mother like that has made me strong. That I got through that, I know I can get through anything,? she said.

Today she celebrates her mother?s life and the time she spent with her. The experience has also endeared her to many of her CedarBridge students who go to her for advice and comfort when they discover cancer in their families.

?It is funny because as they describe their feelings or what they are going through it takes me right back, I know exactly what they are going through,? she said.

It was this student-teacher camaraderie that prompted her to do more.

?Soon after my mom passed away I wanted to volunteer and give back, especially to PALS who were so helpful to my family,? said Ms Tuckett. ?My mother?s PALS nurse, Joanne Armstrong, who is now my very good friend, told me to take my time. She would say ?? you?ll know when you are ready?.?

In 2005 Ms Tuckett was ready and decided to try and involve students at CedarBridge Academy.

?I?ve worked with Joanne Armstrong and Lynette Waldron of PALS for years, having groups of students assist with decorating the Washington Mall, taking down the PALS Memorial Christmas Tree and the assisting with the walkathon for community service,? she said. ?I wanted to do more, increase awareness and include the students. Two years ago, I called Rachael Andrade (Education Officer for TB Cancer & Health) and asked if I could create a similar campaign at the school level and enter a school team in the 3K/5K walk. Rachael was very receptive to the idea and provided me with lots of information to share with the students and Think Pink was born.?

The Think Pink project mirrored the TB Cancer & Health Campaign. ?Students were invited to Wear, Walk and Share. WEAR ? We had a Think Pink Grub day where students paid $2 and wore something pink.

WALK ? We then had students participate in the 3K/5K walk and collect pledges.

SHARE ? The sharing had students and staff bring in photos of family members who have been diagnosed with breast cancer to be honoured on the Faces of Breast Cancer display.

The school?s Catering Club raised additional funds with a bake sale and special coffee promotion that it called Caring Cups for the Cure.

She said once students heard about the project they were eager to be involved. ?It was very easy to get students involved, breast cancer has no boundaries so almost everyone can say they have been touched by breast cancer or that they know someone who has been diagnosed by the dreadful disease. As the students signed up to participate they would say, ?I am doing this for my mama, aunt, nana, Godma?,? she said.

Ms Tuckett hailed the project a huge success at raising breast cancer awareness on the campus.

?Students were going home and asking their mothers and grandmothers if they had had their mammograms yet. For those students who were immediately affected by the disease or had lost a loved one, I saw it as a part of the healing process.

?I know that for me I felt that I was celebrating my mother and walking for my sister and aunt,? she said.

Taking part in the Breast Cancer Walk proved very popular. ?The response was amazing,? said Ms Tuckett. ?The first year we had 60 students and ten teachers participate in Team CBA. In 2006, we had 100 students participate and 25 teachers.?

The monies raised were also impressive ? $3,006 in 2005 and $7,400 in 2006.

Rachel Andrade, education officer for TB Cancer & Health Association, said the CedarBridge participation was larger than other schools.

?We have had other schools participate in various programmes even the nursery schools,? she said. ?But CedarBridge is the largest school on the Island and their numbers have been greater.?

She said the level of commitment from the CedarBridge students was encouraging and bodes well not only for the community now but in the future.

?Ms Tuckett was the driving spirit behind that project, she was the life and soul of it and her students really rallied around her,? she said. ?She was phenomenal.?

In fact, last year local health insurance company BF&M sponsored a School Spirit Award in recognition of TB Cancer & Health?s 10th anniversary. CedarBridge, as the school that raised the most money, ran away with that award.

The honour made students proud and the $2,000 prize money for the school won the recognition of school administrators.

Nicole Williams Smith, BF&M spokesperson, said the company hopes students were also proud knowing that their actions and efforts, however small, contributed to the fundraising for the purchase of a new digital mammography unit.

?We want to encourage student involvement because breast cancer knows no boundaries; not age, race, gender nor class,? she said. ?If teenagers are aware of this disease and all of the other ailments that are prevalent in our community, they can start taking preventative steps to safeguard their health.?