WILDWOOD, MO. – When the temperature drops to a chilly 38 degrees, the last thing most people think about are the harmful effects of the sun.
But the fourth graders in Diane Trantham’s class at the Center for Creative Learning aren’t most people. They know that skin cancer knows no seasonal bounds, and winter is as good a time as any to study the relationship between tanning, the sun’s ultraviolet rays and skin cancer.
“Use tan in a bottle,” writes student Jordan McGuiness. “It looks the same but won’t cause skin diseases.”
McGuiness is among the Rockwood School District fourth graders who tackled the topic of tanning and skin cancer in an essay challenge in Trantham’s class, “There’s No Zone Like the Ozone.” The above is a picture of the December 2004 essay writers with 2 of the 3 winners in Melanoma Hope Network t-shirts. Three students were absent.
The students take a semester-long course on atmospheric and ground level ozone and the power that people of all ages have to influence the environment. During the course, which earned Trantham a national award in May from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, students heard Stephanie Lickerman, RN, of the Melanoma Hope Network, lecture on skin cancer and sun protection.
Sponsored by Radicool Australia, the essay challenge invited students to compete for an unlikely prize: the opportunity to sell a protective Radicool sun hat to raise money for a bona fide health organization. The unusual reward is typical of the Center for Creative Learning, whose curriculum promotes community action to reinforce lessons learned.
The top three essays will be published on Radicool’s web site. The essays are being judged by the St. Louis-based Melanoma Hope Network. The winners will be announced at the Open House and receive Melanoma Hope Network T-shirts as prizes.
A shared commitment to educating youngsters about the importance of sun protection brought the Australian clothing manufacturer, the Missouri science class and the St. Louis non-profit organization together. Eighty percent of sun damage occurs before the age of 18, and 90 percent of skin cancers are believed to be preventable.
Radicool Australia is an industry leader dedicated to providing the very best sun protection swimwear available, with an SPF of 100+. Radicool’s sun suits, shirts, shorts and hats, are designed to provide a convenient and efficient way to protect the whole family from the sun’s damaging UVA and UVB radiation.
TANNING