Social work sophomore Will Woodward spent an hour painting his face to resemble a tiger, although it was only pink. He wanted the fierceness and grit within a tiger to resemble breast cancer victims’ fight toward recovery.
“What better way to support breast cancer awareness than to go full out and paint my face pink,” Woodward said.
Woodward and other students wore pink for Pink Out, Student Government’s partnership with LSU Athletics to raise awareness for breast cancer during the LSU vs. Tennessee football game.
This idea for students to fill Tiger Stadium’s stands with pink came about during sport administration senior TJ Polk’s freshman year.
“It’s been something I’ve wanted to do since I came to LSU in 2019,” Polk said. “I realized there wasn’t much hype amongst the students to wear pink.”
Polk has been the director of athletics for Student Government for two years and has had opportunities to work with LSU Athletics. Since he’s been with Student Government, Polk has been waiting for the right time to propose his idea for the Pink Out to LSU Athletics but never had the chance, until the LSU vs. Tennessee football game in 2022.
Lizzie Shaw, a political science senior and the Student Body President, heard about Polk’s Pink Out idea last year during student government meetings. Being a member of Zeta Tau Alpha, whose philanthropy is focused on breast cancer education and awareness, she wanted Polk to make sure that the Pink Out would correspond with her sorority’s Pink Ribbon Week.
Each year, the LSU Zeta Tau Alpha chapter distributes pink ribbons to engage with their communities and campuses for breast cancer awareness according to Shaw.
This year, Shaw was able to partner with Polk to bring the Pink Out idea to fruition, including her original plan to correspond with her sorority’s annual Pink Ribbon Week. Zeta Tau Alpha passed out pink ribbons for students to wear days prior to the game.
Polk and members of Student Government met with the athletic administration earlier in the semester to discuss the Pink Out idea for the LSU vs. Tennessee game. He said LSU Athletics was supportive of the idea.
“We chose the Tennessee game because we only had two home games in October and we didn’t want to have homecoming and pink out on the same day,” Polk said.
Polk said the plan was successful, as students filled Death Valley’s student section with pink attire.
Polk said he was pleased with LSU Athletics’ cooperation with Student Government in planning the Pink Out.
“I feel that LSU Athletics did a phenomenal job working alongside the student body in coordinating the [Pink Out] game,” Polk said. “They’ve always acknowledged breast cancer awareness, but I believe the promotion of wearing pink showed that with proper planning, the student body and fans will respond appropriately.”
Shaw said she was pleased that a large number of students wore pink because she was worried that students wouldn’t get the memo.
“I knew that [Student Government] would wear pink, but I didn’t know if the whole student body was going to adapt to it,” Shaw said.
Shaw said that any way of breast cancer activism reminds people to take action for the cause and do their due diligence in terms of personal health.
“It doesn’t seem like much- wearing pink for one football game- but to someone who sees [the color pink] in the corner of their eye, it is a physical reminder to do their due diligence when it comes to their health,” Shaw said.
Seeing the positive impact wearing pink had, Polk said he hopes his contribution will last after he graduates.
“I hope that LSU can build off of this for future years and the Pink Out game becomes a tradition for LSU,” Polk said.
