School of Science sponsors Blue Tie Prostate Cancer Awareness Campaign



Students in the HU Pre-Health program bring community awareness to Prostate Cancer.

The Hampton University School of Science Pre-Health Program and the Undergraduate Cancer Research Program sponsored the Blue Tie Prostate Cancer Awareness campaign for the month of September. 

 Student volunteers collaborated with Professor Michael Druitt, program director, to distribute blue-ribbons and information to help bring more attention to this specific health disparity that affect African-American men disproportionately. According to pcf.org African-American men are more likely to develop prostate cancer compared with Caucasian men and are nearly 2.5 times as likely to die from the disease.

On Sept. 20 undergraduates Kaia Amoah, sophomore from Ohio and Domonique Hill, a junior from Chicago, worked with high school student, Brooke Ford, from the Governor’s School for Science and Technology, to produce ribbons and handouts and distributed them to students, faculty, administrators and staff in the Student Center.

“Hearing about the relevance of prostate cancer caused me to desire to have it draw an equal awareness as breast cancer. They deserve equal support!” said Ford.

The month of September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and HU is engaged in community service and education. The Medical Science graduate students visited local high schools to educate and inform youth groups about the Blue Tie Prostate Cancer Awareness Campaign.    

“I am so glad that I could be a part of the Prostate Cancer Awareness Campaign this year. I think this campaign is a great chance to inform others about the signs and preventions so that they may live long healthy lives. I have known a few people who have gotten prostate cancer and I think it is important to create more awareness for something that is so prevalent in the African-American male community," said Amoah.

-Brianna Dance ‘14

National Talk like a Pirate Day

National Talk like a Pirate Day

“You gotta walk, walk, walk, walk like a pirate. Talk, talk, talk, talk like a pirate...”

Hey have you ever heard that chant? Well if you have you know exactly what I’m talking about, but have you ever thought about how the Hampton Pirates mascot came about. Ironically, today Sept. 19, 2013, is National Talk like a Pirate Day (yes this does exist). Today people everywhere are taking time out of their busy schedules to talk like Pirates. Funny right? Well, for us walking, talking, or living like a pirate is not hard to do. We do 365 days out of the year. So, to commemorate today’s festivities we will explore just how exactly the Pirate became the mascot of Hampton.

Over 70 years ago in May 1933, in a vote conducted by the Hampton Script, students selected “Pirates” as the official mascot of Hampton. It was a pretty tough competition with competitors such as: Seasiders, Ironmen, Buccaneers and Wildcats. Just think what it would be like if we were the Hampton University Ironmen?  Personally, I am happy that the students voted on Pirates.

A journalist at the Norfolk New Journal and Guide who was also a contributor to the Script suggested the name Pirates beause, “it seemed uniquely appropriate, because it hadn’t been abused by a thousand other colleges.”  The Pirate was not the only mascot suggestion with symbolism; all of the choices shared this quality. However, the Pirates were clearly victorious in this fight. Winning the votes of 307 students out of the 577 that voted. From this point on Hamptonians were known as the Pirates.

So, there you have it, just a brief history on how we got our name. So go and relish in the fun today and talk like a Pirate. It shouldn’t be hard since you do it every day anyway. This is your day of celebration, so celebrate! Show outsiders what it’s really like to be a Pirate!

The Pirate mascot interacting with the referee at the Hampton vs. Duke basketball game.

 

Daisha Roberts '15