By Kaylee Murray
Fitchburg State University’s Rotaract Club is making strides to not only become more known on campus, but raise breast cancer awareness with their Winter Ball.
Rotaract is hosting this event on Thursday, Feb. 21 in the Hammond Main Lounge at 6:30 p.m. It is semi-formal and requires black and white attire; pink accents are also acceptable. Tickets are $7 per person, $10 per couple, and all proceeds go to help cancer research. There will be a 14-year-old breast cancer survivor speaking at the event as well as a prize raffle.
The Rotaract Club’s motto is “helping others before ourselves” and it lives up to this statement. The club president, Tran Lu, stated, “We want to create opportunities for students interested in giving back to the community.”
This club gives students the opportunity to get involved in community service, leadership skills, and professional development and now wants to open up the floor to the rest of the school. In the past they have also held both canned food and clothing drives for the local community.
When asked what type of crowd is expected to appear at this event, Lu said that she expects to see students and faculty who are or have been affected by breast cancer either directly or indirectly. This event allows for a total of 80 attendees and Lu noted that there would be a buffet-style dinner served. Dinner, current music, dancing, and breast-cancer awareness are expected to help draw people to this event.
According to Lu, people should attend because, “It is for a good cause, helping women with breast cancer fight against a battle that they could possibly, at any moment, lose. [For] anyone who has ever had a close relative die due to any kind of cancer or disease, it is heartbreaking to see someone who is strong and healthy one day and then weak and fighting for their life. Also, there will be food and dancing.”
There will be more events like this one in Rotaract’s future, but as of now this is their largest-scale dance. Lu said that the fall semester may foster a “hot cocoa” dance event. If people do not choose to go to the dance, they still have the opportunity to join Rotaract Club to help create events they are even more interested in.
“Yes, the Rotaract Club is open to anyone interested in helping the local community,” Lu said. “We might not always make big changes nationally or internationally, but starting small, in the local area, is a great start in becoming a leader who wants to help others before him/herself. “Not to mention, joining the club can look great on a resume!”