As the month of November ended, off came the mustaches, facial hair and whiskers grown out for Movember.
Students and faculty have worked together to raise awareness for prostate and testicular cancers by growing mustaches last month. However, it all came to an end Friday.
The Ohio State undergraduate student health organization Buckeyes for Public Health (Buckeyes4PH) held its first-ever Movember Gala Parté to recap the entire month and hand out its Movember awards at the Barnes & Noble on campus Friday night.
At the event, awards were given for Miss Movember, Man of Movember, Mo-fessor of the year and Mo-team 2012.
The award for Miss Movember went to Amy Acton, the adviser for Buckeyes4PH, who received a gift card. Stanley Lemeshow, the dean of the College of Public Health, took the award for Mo-fessor of the year. Lemeshow, who grew a mustache last month, received a mustache bow tie. After raising $2,088, The James team was able to take the award for Mo Team 2012. After a vote by the audience, Teym Seddik, an exchange student from France, was able to win Man of Movember for the mustache he grew all month long. He was chosen on Friday by audience members who voted for different men at the event and received a sash for his efforts.
Leesha Bolton, chief of communications for Buckeyes4PH, said the group’s main goal was to raise awareness, and it was able to do that and more.
“We knew in years to come funding and getting people to participate is something that will grow on people,” Bolton said. “Once people see somebody with a mustache it sets an example and more guys want to participate next year.”
This year Movember had more than 130 registered participates on its website, and Bolton said in an email they were able to raise about $5,500, without adding in the fundraising nights they had at Raising Cane’s and Cuzzins Yogurt.
Although the group was able to exceed its fundraising expectations, Bolton said it has even higher hopes for next year.
“Next year we hope to make all our events larger, increase funding and so much more,” Bolton said.
This year Buckeyes4PH was able to get Dr. James Jacobs, director of Student Health Services, to do health screenings at an event. Bolton said about 15 men received screening this year.
Jacobs talked at the gala event about how important it is that men go and get tested for testicular and prostate cancers because both are treatable diseases.
“Testicular cancer is almost 100 percent curable if you can catch it in time,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs also said those who aren’t professionally tested can perform self-tests to stay aware of their body.
Lastly, Thomas Thulesen, an exchange student from Denmark studying business who helped bring the idea of Movember to the United States, talked about how men need to work to eliminate the stigma about going to the doctor to get tested.
“We try to add the fun part, mustache on one hand, but we are actually here to talk about the important things,” Thulesen said.