Pink Week 2022: The Tab meets this year’s president

Every year, students run a series of events for Pink Week, to raise awareness and money for breast cancer charities. Pink Week began in 2014, when a Clare College student Nina Rauch set it up in celebration of her late mother. Since then, Pink Week has grown rapidly from just being at the one college, to being a university-wide event, to spreading to over Universities too. Last year Pink Week took place online, but this year it’s back in person, and bigger and better than ever. The Tab met up with this year’s president, Olivia Young, to get a sneak peak of what’s in store this year.

Olivia Young (Image credits: Jacob Higgins)

The Three Pillars

The committee selects three pillars each year, which reflect what they want Pink Week to stand for. For 2022, the three pillars are educate, donate and support. Not only will Pink Week be educating students about the support systems available to them, but about how they too can support loved ones affected by breast cancer.

Olivia believes that this is a particularly important theme for Uni students. “Where Pink Week is different, is that because it’s University-organised and for people our age, we have to think of ways that make it specific for us and for our experiences,” Olivia says. “Of course young people do experience breast cancer, but a lot of the time for them this is about supporting loved ones who are experiencing it, and learning about the best ways to support them.” The guests at this year’s educational panel at the Cambridge Union are not just young women who have battled breast cancer, but also people who have known someone who has.

The Charities

Pink Week selects different charities to support each year, and for 2022 they have chosen Future Dreams, CoppaBreast, Cancer UK and Teenage Cancer Trust. Members of the Pink Week committee even went to visit a house run by Future Dreams that offers practical and emotional support for those battling breast cancer and for their families, so they have seen first-hand what an incredible cause all of the money raised is going towards.

(Image credits: Pink Week)

Events

The Pink Week Ball will kick off the week on the 5^th of February. If you did manage to get a much-coveted ticket, you can expect a fantastic masquerade-themed evening of music, casino games, and a silent disco.

A dozen other University-wide events have been scheduled, some highlights of which will be the free educational panel at the Union and club nights on Monday 7^th. Victoria’s Secret have worked with the charity Future Dreams to renovate a London bus into a breast cancer care bus, which offers manicures, bras for breast cancer victims, and chats with breast cancer nurses. This bus will be coming to Cambridge towards the end of Pink Week. “It’s the perfect place to get professional advice in a casual setting.”

The grand finale of Cambridge Pink Week will be a fashion show. Olivia emphasises that the aim is for it to be a really diverse, inclusive and body-positive fashion show that’s fun for everyone.

As well as these large events, most colleges also have their own Pink Week reps who have been hard at work organising events. Most colleges have at least three events going on, including bops, ents and formals, so check out your college’s social media to see what’s happening!

Awareness

“As much as we think about fun and fundraising, Pink Week is so much more than that,” Olivia says. She aims to make Pink Week as inclusive as possible, and emphasises that you do not need to give money to get involved. For Olivia, educating people about breast cancer is as important, if not more so, than raising money for the charities. In addition to the panel at the Union, Pink Week will be sharing many educational resources on their website and social media. Olivia will also be talking about Pink Week on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire on 28^th January at 3:10 in the afternoon, so make sure to listen in!

Olivia and the other members of the Pink Week committee have been working enormously hard to make this year’s events really special. To keep up to date with all things Pink Week, check out their website and Instagram. 

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