Mr. Pink Debate

Is Mr. Pink important For Conroe High School? This is a question that's been echoed many times throughout the halls. Now, people believe this is a ridiculous question as there seems to be a clear answer to this question; of course it's important.

First of all, having Mr. Pink allows the male seniors to help show their support to breast cancer awareness and research. When the seniors sign up for Mr. Pink, their goal is to raise the most money, which is then donated to local breast cancer centers. The senior who raises the most money will then be “crowned” Mr. Pink by the previous Mr. Pink at the pep rally on October 27. This gives the seniors more than two motives to raise the most money; to be crowned Mr. Pink, and raise money for breast cancer research.

Yet surprisingly, there’s also been talk (although not as much) about how it should be Ms/Mrs. Pink as it only affects women. Besides this defeating the purpose of Mr. Pink as a whole, the statement is completely false; While not as common, men are very much able to develop breast cancer. According to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, roughly one in 833 men will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Now, it would be correct to say that men are less likely to develop breast cancer when compared to the ladies, as one in eight will be diagnosed with breast cancer, it’s still completely inaccurate to say men are incapable of being diagnosed with it.

Something else that Mr. Pink offers the seniors, is another opportunity to show off more of their school pride. The school is known for wanting their students to show off their pride at any chance, so when seniors sign up and compete for Mr. Pink, they are showing off a lot of their pride. This is also important as only seniors can compete, which means that this is one of the last big things that they can do before leaving.

Although, some people may think, wouldn't it be easier to just make Mr. Pink a fundraiser for all boys? That way any student who wants to raise money can. While yes it may be easier to make it a fundraiser for all male students, it is possible to raise money or donate to breast cancer facilities at any time of the year. What makes Mr. Pink special is that it only lets our seniors compete, and when the previous Mr. Pink winner crowns the winner of the current Mr. Pink, it almost makes it a "passing of the torch" of sorts. 

One last thing that proves the importance of Mr. Pink here is that, it gives the school and the seniors "bragging rights". Now, we all know that schools love to have bragging rights, who doesn't; but that begs the question, how does it give the school and our competing seniors bragging rights. If our seniors raise the most money in CISD, that gives us another thing to brag about to other schools during football games, soccer games, or even quietly during golf tournaments and tennis matches! Now what about seniors, how do they get bragging rights. With Mr. Pink taking place early in the school year, it gives the winner of Mr. Pink seven months to talk about how they raise the most money out of all of the competitors. 

That isn’t to say that they could be some improvements made to how Mr. Pink is done. While Mr. Pink does let the male seniors show their stance for fighting breast cancer, it’s mostly women that are affected by breast cancer, which is stated earlier. A solution that would work for both side is, instead of only having Mr. Pink is to also have a Ms. Pink. This would allow more money to be raised, women to also show their pride, and it makes sense for the female seniors to also compete as they are the ones who are more often fighting against breast cancer.

Now, it’s still important to question things and make an opposing stance on stuff, especially this, but there are more than enough reasons to show that Mr. Pink is important including how it allows the male seniors to show their spirit, allowing them to show there stance on fighting breast cancer, and the bragging rights that everyone wants. It isn't’ bad to question the importance of things like this, as it allows people to show their stance on situations like these. 

By: Connor Gaw