Teens in Prince Edward Island are joining the tan-free movement. We connected with Nicole and Alicia, Grade 12 students and leaders of the Plan Not to Tan campaign at their high school in Kensington, PEI. In this guest blog post, they share with us how they encouraged fellow students to go tan-free for prom.

We attend a small school in Kensington, PEI with only about 400 students in grades 7 to 12. Our grad class this year of 90 students is one of the biggest the school has seen in recent years. With a class this size, in a school this small, there are bound to be pressures, esspecially around the time of prom. There is always that underlying false idea that, particularly girls, need to have a tan at prom to look their best. We are proud to say that half of our 2011 grad class chose not to tan for this year’s prom, thanks to our successful Plan Not to Tan campaign.

The campaign began last year as the initiative of a student whose friend’s mother had been diagnosed with skin cancer. She was passionate about informing students at our school about the dangers of indoor tanning and excessive sun exposure, thus developing the idea of Plan Not to Tan.

After the success of last year’s campaign, we decided to continue it this year. The main idea was that students in grade 12 who were attending the senior prom had the opportunity to sign a pledge sheet saying they would not use a tanning bed and would be sun safe leading up to prom. Suprisingly, half of our graduating class signed the pledge. We were taken aback, to say the least.

For this year’s campaign, we tried some tactics, such as creating our own posters, which we put up around the school. These features us wearing hospital gowns and had statemenst such as “I’m not tanning becuase I don’t like this gown” and “Not the gown you pictures yourself in at prom?”. While these were quite shocking and scary, they certainly made an impact. Many students saw these posters and began to think about what they were saying.

Our reasoning for doing this campaign is to inform our fellow grads and students about the dangers of tanning. Because we are from such a small school, our grad class is a pretty tight-knit group of individuals. Therefore, when push comes to shove, each and every person in our class cares deeply about one another. We all know how difficult it is to lose someone in our class that we all care about. Skin cancer is preventable, and consequently, so is a potential death that follows it. We do not want to lose someone else from our grad class, especially due to something that could have been prevented by simply being sun safe and having the facts. If we have convinced just one person to think about his or her actions regarding tanning, then we have done a great job.

Now that our prom has passed, we can proundly say that the majority of our grad class did not tan. It was amazing to see so many people wearing their natural glow to prom, proving that it is possible to be beautiful without a tan. The fact that so many people felt comfortable to do so made us proud; proud that we had a part in their confidence.

Our camapign was very successful this year, getting national coverage along with the Tan Free Grad campaigns across the country. We hope that Plan Not to Tan is continued for years to come, and that the number of students using tanning beds for prom keeps dwindling.

Nicole Mountain and Alicia Silliker,
2011 Kensington Intermediate Senior High School Relay for Life Committee Co-chairs and Plan Not to Tan Campaign Coordinators