Student Pink Zone “Pinks Out” the BJC

Sunday marked the 8^th annual Lady Lions Pink Zone Game at the Bryce Jordan Center, sponsored by Pennsylvania Pink Zone and Penn State’s Student Pink Zone. The Lady Lions took on Wisconsin in an exciting game dedicated to honoring Breast Cancer survivors and raising money for the cure.

With the combined efforts of Student Pink Zone and Pennsylvania Pink Zone, $1,000,000 has been raised in just eight years for the cause. Student Pink Zone was founded by former student Eric Bodnar in 2010, who has been working all year preparing for the event. Between hosting “Pink Out the HUB”, selling merchandise and collecting donations, the members have been keeping busy throughout the days leading up to the game.

“Every year, our biggest fundraiser is mailings. This is when members will give addresses of friends, families, and companies and then we send donation letters to these potential donors. We haven’t taken the total for the year yet, but last year we made almost $9,000 of our $17,000 from mailings,” says Lauran Hansen, Vice President of Fundraising. 

Along with the success of fundraising, the student-run organization accomplished some big expansions this year with more plans to grow in the future.

“Last year we only had the basketball game, which was a huge success, but this year we were able to expand with women’s hockey, gymnastics, and wrestling. In the future we plan on teaming up with baseball, lacrosse, and a lot of other sports,” says Milan Modi, Vice President of Social Media.

For the past four years, SPZ has made the most of its efforts to represent an important cause. “Being a part of Pink Zone is a great way for people to get involved and fight the battle against breast cancer. We’ve been selling our merchandise for months to prepare. It’s been a pretty big weekend for us,” says Alex Zepp, Director of Merchandise.

The game held big success this year. 698 breast cancer survivors were honored on the court during halftime, the Lady Lions pulled a win of 78-68, and members of the crowd even scored some free McDonalds chicken nuggets following the victory. Talk about a win-win. Congratulations to the Lady Lions, and congratulations to Pink Zone for their outstanding fundraising total.

Photo by Jose Ponte