We are used to symbols in our life. Pink, especially in October, can stand as a symbol for breast cancer awareness.

In Flagstaff, a panther is the proud mascot of Coconino High School and the eagle of Flagstaff High School. Typically these mascot symbols never stand together in cooperation; rather, the schools are friendly but fierce competitors.

But cancer has a way of bringing people together. That's the background of the FHS/CHS pink breast cancer awareness shirt.

On Oct. 29, students from the schools presented a check for $3,500 to North Country HealthCare for their Well Woman HealthCheck program. That's how much cheerleaders and student council members made when they sold T-shirts at each school.

"We should have bought more T-shirts," April Gabaldon, FHS cheer coach and health development and dance teacher, said. "We would have sold them."

Students, faculty, staff, parents, relatives and friends bought and wore the shirts. The shirts are pink with a black ribbon, and display a red panther and a green eagle. Students were able to wear the shirts on Wednesdays in October and often wore them to athletic events.

"The last volleyball game, both cheerleading teams (from FHS and CHS) wore the shirts," said Gabaldon.

She shares a story from a student.

"Trevor was at Baskin Robbins, wearing the shirt, and a woman tells him, 'Thank you for doing what you are doing.'"

COULD HAVE SOLD 1,000

The start of the idea came while Gabaldon and Katherine Pastor, a guidance counselor and student council sponsor, were completing the Climb for Cancer with a team. Pastor is a cancer survivor, and they saw all the T-shirts with logos and symbols.

The fruition came when Gabaldon was at cheer camp with her cheerleaders. She explained that they always raise money for breast cancer, but this year they wanted to do more. Gabaldon suggested T-shirts. Quickly the idea grew to involve CHS cheerleaders, student council members and wearing T-shirts at school.

Selling the T-shirts was easy. They advertised via emails, school announcements and on facebook. The goal was to sell 250 T-shirts at each school. They ended up selling 650 T-shirts total. They found a good price for the T-shirts to get a good return for the donation. Also, people were generous.

"People wouldn't blink. Here's $20 they would say," Pastor said. "Ten for the shirt, 10 for a donation."

Gabaldon and Pastor joked they could have sold 1,000 shirts.

SCREENINGS FOR THE UNINSURED

Misha Luther of North Country HealthCare was at FHS to get the check and give FHS and CHS cheerleaders and FHS student council members certificates of appreciation. Luther explained the money would be used in the Well Woman HealthCheck program for breast and cervical cancer screenings for women who are underinsured or uninsured. The students had decided where the raised money would be donated.

"It was important to the kids that the money stayed in the community," Pastor said.

Freshmen FHS cheerleaders Logan Bryan and Danielle Connell wore their pink T-shirts to the celebration.

"Raising money for an important cause feels good," Bryan said.

Connell agreed and added, "Raising awareness is important. Everyone should be involved."

Cecile LeBlanc can be reached at 556-2261 or cleblanc@azdailysun.com.