Supporting breast cancer awareness warriors, championing survivors, and instilling a fight to never ever give up hope for the cause – these have all compelled GEMS American Academy Qatar (GAAQ) staff and students to work together and spread awareness and understanding of the impact breast cancer has in our society during the month of October.

Chief organizers of the school’s breast cancer awareness campaign, middle school counselor Dana Al-Shakarchi and psychology teacher Nadia Steyn teamed up to work alongside principals, guidance counselors, teachers, and the student council to schedule a jam-packed schedule of engaging awareness activities to make learning fun, impactful, and lifelong. All proceeds from the campaign will be donated to Qatar Cancer Society.

Some of the week’s activities include, but are not limited to, morning merchandise sales of pink products created by caring students as well as items given to GAAQ by Qatar Cancer Society, a school-wide door-decorating contest, a candy jar competition, a parent bake sale, breast cancer awareness bulletin boards with the school’s wellness club, a student music concert, and a guest speaker from Qatar University’s College of Pharmacy, Nour Hisham Al-Ziftwai, addressing the challenges of metastatic breast cancer.

Members of the school’s student council and wellness club are working side-by-side with GAAQ staff to spearhead weekly activities, empowered by the school’s mantra of “student-led, teacher supervised”, because students are more engaged in active learning, practice building critical thinking and organization skills, and cultivate more community and personal connections through these opportunities.

Dana Al-Shakarchi said: “Because one of our teachers is a breast cancer survivor, our school’s breast cancer awareness campaign is even more personal and provides the extra motivation to recognize the terrifying statistics, increase visibility, stimulate research funding, and educate our community about the disease. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), breast cancer is the world’s most prevalent cancer, with 7.8 million living women diagnosed with the disease as of the end of 2020. GAAQ is doing its part via our dedicated breast cancer awareness week, because greater awareness will undoubtedly lead to a greater number of women being screened earlier for the cancer.”