By Zach Patberg
Whether it is a crusade against rain forest destruction, a wake-up call to the dangers of tanning or the pursuit of a bedbug-free society, when the 27 young borough high schoolers picked their plot to graze, they ate it up — research, surveys, implications and all.Last Thursday they were selected out of more than 1,500 other students involved in the citywide Quality of Life program to show off their proposals at the Queens Posterboard Symposium at Borough Hall.For Forest Hills High School senior Carina Leong, it was personal. Her grandmother's death from ovarian cancer still fresh in her mind, Carina partnered with her friend, senior Pearl Wong, to raise awareness of the disease and stress the importance of getting tested early. By surveying female classmates, teachers, seniors and neighbors, they found that only 24 percent understood all or some of the symptoms. They also found that of the 38 percent who had gotten tested only 3 percent took the right one, called the CA-125. The rest received a Pap smear, which tests for cervical cancer.Their proposal? To have printed symptom facts and testing recommendations on every feminine hygiene product on retail shelves.Carina and Pearl wanted to create a universally recognized icon for ovarian cancer, consisting of a mini “O” tied to a teal string, teal being the disease's official color.”It's like the pink ribbon for breast cancer,” Pearl said.Not stopping there, the two solicited pad companies like Always, where they hit road blocks.”We tried to get them to listen to us, but we're just high school students,” Carina said. So they tried a different route, contacting large advocate groups until they finally got a hold of the chief executive officer of the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, who gave them a piece of encouragement. Standing next to their tri-fold after the Borough Hall ceremony, they repeated it as a mantra: “Never give up breaking into the corporate market.”Carina and Pearl were to be among the few semifinalists chosen to compete for up to $17,500 in scholarship money at a final round of presentations this week.Two other teams from Forest Hills High School presented proposals on a different topic: promoting donation drives — one for blood, the other for hair. Citing research that a mere 5 percent out of the 60 percent of eligible donors in the United State give blood, Yuliya Babayeva, Rajat Karnawat and Diana Uvaydova suggested implementing a one-day lesson about donation into high school health class curriculums across the city.Similarly, Kayla Polanco, seeing the shortage and high cost of natural wigs for people turned bald from chemotherapy or the affliction known as alopecia areta, proposed holding an annual drive in high schools where students donate 10 inches of their own hair clippings. “I heard the leaders of tomorrow today,” said Borough President Helen Marshall at the ceremony where she handed each student a certificate.But while recognized for their efforts so far, as Quality of Life Director -Daniel Voloch said. “This is only the beginning for you guys.”Reach reporter Zach Patberg by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
