On November, sorry, Movember 1, some of the St. Thomas University men will be shaving their puberty-ridden faces.
The Movember campaign raises money and awareness globally for men’s health issues. It largely focuses on mental health and prostate cancer. The goal is to increase the understanding of the health risks that men face and encourage them to act on this knowledge.
This will be Luke Robertson’s fourth Movember. This year he’s Harrington Hall’s team captain.
“I’m also doing my best to oversee and help out all the other residences and off-campus teams however, they’re largely working on their own,” Robertson said.
Robertson says he’s grateful for Rosalynn Alessi and Hannah Davies from the STU Athletics Council. They’re organizing the larger campus events like the end of month gala and the wall-of-fame.
Men who wish to participate should be clean-shaven starting at the first of the month. For the rest of November they must maintain those upper-lip locks.
Robertson says the campaign is taken seriously throughout campus. It’s not just a competition of who can sprout out the burliest hairs.
“The prostate is not the most glamorous area of a man’s body, and getting it checked is a somewhat invasive procedure. Helping to get men over the stigma attached to getting your body checked for such things is important,” Robertson said.
“Over the last two decades especially, breast cancer initiatives have done amazing things for women, and things like mammograms have become common place. Hopefully in the near future men’s health can make the same advances.”
Last year Movember raked in $125 million, internationally.
“I’m really excited for Movember this year. Last year we had some great moustaches on campus. Jon Munn did very well,” Robertson said.
Jonathan Munn will be leading this year’s off-campus group.
“I find it very fulfilling as well as a lot of fun. It is always nice to see all of the mo bros sporting their staches and even mo sistas just putting up with the dirty stache month, because they know in the end it does good,” Munn said.
“Whether you’re sporting a pencil, chevron, handlebar, or horseshoe, it all is for the same cause in the end.”
To sign up for this year’s event go to www.movember.com/ca/register/. Donations can also be made online or in person at the Residence Life Office in George Martin Hall.
