Pink Walk at Franklin High Another Joyous Affair

At least 125 people participated in the 6th Annual Annual Pink Walk at Franklin High School Thursday, helping spread the word about the dangers of breast cancer, the leading killer of young women in the United States.

Organized by Franklin’s Dream Project Club, the annual event is inspired by the a curriculum at the school’s magnet program that emphasizes United Nations Millennium Development Goals that call for halving extreme poverty, arresting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education by 2015.

The curriculum is taught by Melinda Conde, who also teaches health and life skills. Conde was one of the major figures at the Pink Walk, along with Kelly Sullivan Walden, founder of the Dream Project, a K-12 organization devoted to the empowerment of people based on the UNMDG.

“Students don’t just become advocates for the Millennium Development goals,” Conde said. “They carry them into their lives.”

The Pink Walk was held on the school’s football field, where 53 students walked or ran along the field’s track and then, accompanied by cheer leaders, danced joyously to loud music played by student DJs. (Watch the attached video to see the students dancing.) As many as 75 other people signed up for the event.

This was the first time that the annual event was held in October, to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Conde told Patch, adding that past Pink Walk events were held in February.