Comets for the Cure came back to Solon High School for the 2021-2022 school year after being restricted last school year due to Covid-19.

Every year, Solon High School has traditions surrounding the Comets for the Cure – a dunk tank and sports events. However, Solon’s administration was unable to allow this during the 2020-2021 school year due to the global pandemic, still overshadowing many school events.

Solon high school principal, Erin Short, talked about how much teachers and students missed out on not having Comets for the Cure fundraisers last year.

“It didn’t dawn on me how much the student body looks forward to it as well until we weren’t able to do it last year,” said Short. “We weren’t able to do, really, anything normally last year during the pandemic. SADD came to me in the spring and said we love doing the dunk tank, and we love having something fun to look forward to. It really was brought to my attention how much the student body loves it as well.”

With students, once again, able to participate in out-of-school activities, the pink Comets for a Cure t-shirts were sold to promote the pink out among the school’s sports events and the cause itself, which raised $14,103.23 for the Komen Foundation across the high school’s events.

“Pre-K through the high school, we have sold over 700 t-shirts…,” Short said, “We sold out, almost, here at the High School.”

Solon administration’s main goals are to express the importance that supporting Comets for the Cure has in not only the school, but also the community, and the difference families make when contributing to Comets for the Cure events.

“I’m sure you know people who have had breast cancer, and if you don’t know you will at some point,” Short said. “We have teachers and employees right now who have been recently diagnosed, so I think this year… [I’m] amazed at how much our families and our students come together to support a cause bigger than ourselves and ultimately, that’s a huge goal of education, that we realize that it’s not just about me, but it’s about a collective we.”

A member of Solon’s varsity cheer team, Helena Caraballo, talks about cheer’s favorite time of season, when the stadium is filled with pink.

“Every varsity cheer member bought the Comets for the Cure t-shirt and [got] pink ribbon tattoos and bows and socks,” said Caraballo. “We [had] pink poms that we use[d] and that’s our favorite time of the year.”

The cheer team tried especially hard to show their compassion for breast cancer.

“We have members on our team who have had family that have passed away from breast cancer,” said Caraballo. “So it [was] important for us to support it for them, and also just to support it for the school.”