Junior and senior girls attended the mandatory Check It Out program about breast cancer education and prevention run by Hadassah volunteers and members of the Community Health and Wellness Department of Suburban Hospital on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018, during Community Time.

The Check It Out program is offered every two years to junior and senior girls in any Montgomery County high school. According to Judith Macon, Manager of Cancer Outreach and Education at Suburban Hospital, the goal of the program is to raise awareness about breast health and to educate girls about breast cancer and prevention tips.

“I think these programs are important, not to scare people, just to promote some awareness,” Macon said. “The main thing is to have factual information and not to have women worried or

scared about something.”

Macon said that another benefit of the program is that the information from the program is also brought home to mothers, sisters and grandmothers, not only helping students but saving the lives of mothers and siblings. According to Dean of Students Roslyn Landy, Hadassah and Suburban Hospital had been asking to present to CESJDS girls for many years, and Landy decided to try the program out as an experiment.

“Any program that educates our students about health issues is important to me,” Landy said.  “Without current information, people are less likely to be proactive about taking care of themselves, making healthy choices or seeking medical help.”

Overall, Landy said she was pleased with the program and that many girls learned something new from the program. Since she thought the program went well, she plans to hold the program again in the future.

Going into the program, senior Ilana Kaplan knew that it was about breast cancer awareness, but nothing else. After, Kaplan was glad the school held the program because it was informative and she believes there are not many opportunities at JDS to learn about how to take care of yourself.  

“We don’t have many platforms to hear about these things,” Kaplan said. “Especially for senior girls, next year we are going to college … and it’s nice to have these things on our radars, leaving school, so that we can be prepared for the real world.”