Staff Writer
MARS HILL – Prom dresses – and corresponding cummerbunds – come in every color imaginable … black, red, blue, green, purple and yellow, just to name a few. However, one color that won’t be seen at the Central Aroostook Junior-Senior High School prom in May is tan. According to Sue Findlen, SAD 42 school nurse, 98 percent of the senior class signed a No-Tanning Pledge, sponsored by the Melanoma Foundation of New England.
“I received an e-mail about the No-Tanning Pledge and was interested because we have a lot of students who tan before prom,” said Findlen, who has been with the school district since 1995. “I went to the seniors and educated them about melanoma.
“My seniors took the No-Tanning Pledge and I had 98 percent of them, or 25 students, sign the pledge,” she said. “Having the facts right in front of them was a real eye-opener.”
Kelli Pedroia, whose husband, Dustin, plays for the Boston Red Sox, is the spokeswoman for the Melanoma Foundation of New England. Kelli, a melanoma survivor, has taken the foundation’s “Your Skin Is In” program to heart and is championing its cause – to keep kids out of tanning beds.
“I attribute my melanoma to using tanning beds and laying out in the sun,” said Pedroia. “I was seriously into tanning when I was a teen-ager. When the Foundation asked me to serve as its spokesperson, I jumped at the chance. There is no doubt in my mind that the tanning I did when I was a teen-ager resulted in the three operations I had to remove lymph nodes and cancerous melanoma when I was 21.”
As part of the No-Tanning Pledge contest, if 70 percent of a class signs a pledge to not go tanning – outdoors or in a tanning bed – before their prom, the class will be entered into a drawing. The winning entry gets $1,000 to spend on the class prom.
“Being a small, rural school,” said Findlen, “prom is so expensive, so I thought if we could get this $1,000, it would really help the seniors out. We didn’t win, but I still think it was a worthy cause.”
Findlen said every year there are girls who feel the need to tan before prom.
“There are much better options out there,” she said, “including ‘tan in a can.’ At our last health fair, I set up a booth on melanoma and tanning. I told the students that if they feel they do need a tan, they can rub a lotion on that will darken their skin without damaging it. There are a number of sunless self-tanning products on the market.”
Duska Grass, a senior at Central Aroostook Junior-Senior High School, is one of the many students who signed the pledge.
“I did try tanning twice and found that my skin was flaky and irritated during those two sessions, so I pledged that I would never do that again,” she said. “Another reason I signed the pledge is because of melanoma. It says right in the facts that melanoma kills one person every hour and I didn’t want to die. This is my prime, so it was very easy to commit to the pledge.”
Grass said a tanned look is something her classmates think about.
“We had a discussion in class the other day about this and there were a few girls who stated that they were going to tan no matter what happens to them,” she said. “I know one girl has psoriasis and that’s why she tans, but a few other girls say they just want to look prettier. In Hollywood, that’s the main goal … to look pretty.
“I know of a handful of guys in our school district who worry about tanning, but it’s mostly the girls,” said Grass. “I’m looking forward to the prom but not having to worry about tanning and the risk of getting melanoma. In addition to the health concerns, there’s also the cost of tanning. Prom is expensive enough without having to deal with the expense of laying in a tanning bed.”
Over 4,000 teen-agers signed the No-Tanning Pledge in 2008.
“The World Health Organization is very specific about the dangers of tanning beds for young people,” said Deb Girard, executive director of the Melanoma Foundation of New England. “Their position is very clear – no one under the age of 18 should use a tanning bed, and there is plenty of research that shows that tanning can lead to melanoma. Melanoma rates have been skyrocketing among women aged 18 to 25 over the past five years.”
To learn more about the Foundation and facts of melanoma and tanning, log onto www.mfne.org.
