By Hannah Gordon
Assistant News Editor
Many students and faculty have already shaved off their Movember facial hair, but dedication to the cause continues on the St. Bonaventure campus.
Movember is the nickname for November since it was designated as a month to raise awareness about men’s health. Conveniently placed after Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Movember specifically aims to raise money for prevention of prostate cancer.
For the second consecutive year, St. Bonaventure students ralliedto create a team to raise money. MoBonas2013 has raised $4,274 from their $5,000 goal as of Dec. 5 and senior chemistry major Devon Kleinbach is looking to double that money as a finalist in the Amazon Student Movember competition. The winner receives a $1,000 gift card from Amazon and wins $5,000 for the Movember team.
“I do my fair share of Breast Cancer Awareness activities in October, because I’m a woman and want to help other women,” Kleinbach said. “Well, there are also men all around us. Therefore, I participate in Movember. While it is very hard for me to grow a mustache, I can just as easily raise money and get men talking about their health.”
Kleinbach said her personal motivation for participating was her grandfather.
“We all had our own reasons for participating, like a loved one passing away or getting cancer and surviving,” Kleinbach said. “My motivation was my grandfather, who had prostate cancer and survived. I want to see more survivors every day.”
Joseph Yaegle, a junior sports studies major, was a participant in Movember, as well as a driving force on the team to collecting donations.
“I think people should care about it for the same reason that anybody cares about any other similar type of cause: because it’s a good cause,” Yaegle said. “Sometimes men’s health is viewed in a negative light, and sometimes men are embarrassed by the idea of being examined for health issues. Movember’s purpose is to remind people that there is no reason to be embarrassed, and that the health issues that men can experience are often very serious. It is incredibly important that all people take care of themselves.”
Kleinbach and Yaegle both agree that being involved in Movember, and noticing the interest on campus is a great feeling.
“This year I saw a lot of interest on what we were doing around campus between students, staff and faculty,” Kleinbach said. “It was a great feeling to have the campus rally behind the team, grow some fantastic looking mustaches, and get the conversations starting.”
Yaegle said he finds comfort that the campus gets involved and shows their dedication.
“It is really great that our campus gets involved with it,” Yaegle said. “There are many college campuses throughout the world that are involved, and it’s important that we are one of them. It shows that students here love to look at the big picture and are willing to dedicate themselves, even for an entire month, to a cause that means something to them.”
MoBonas will continue to support prostate cancer research and prevention.
“I know we will continue with MoBonas in the future, and I hope we only improve our presence on campus,” Yaegle said. “It’s just one more thing that St. Bonaventure does to show how spirited we are here.”
Students who haven’t donated yet and would like to can visit the MoBonas website at us.movember.com/team/1026573 and click the donate button to donate to the MoBonas2013 team or a specific team member. Donations are closed at 2 p.m. on Dec. 9.
