SAVANNAH DELGROSS

Arts & Life Editor

DHOVS, a group of women dedicated to empowering women (specifically of Asian descent) plans to bring awareness to a subject not often heard about on Denison’s campus: ovarian cancer.

Along with focusing on women empowerment, DHOVS has been working towards raising awareness for Asian-Americans and establishing an Asian interest sorority on Denison’s campus.

Donna Lai ’17, a psychology major from Chicago and the secretary of DHOVS organized Ovarian Cancer Awareness Week, which will be taking place from Monday, Feb. 1 – Friday, Feb. 5. Each day, the group will be collecting donations from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in Slayter Union. Proceeds will go to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition.

Although Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month took place in September, DHOVS is motivated to spread awarenes in early February.

“So many of us thought that ovarian cancer was something that wasn’t very well talked about on campus so we decided to bring awareness to it,” Lai said.

Each day this week, DHOVS will be tabled in Slayter Union to present information and statistics about ovarian cancer.

The group will be selling cake pops in Slayter Union from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m on Wednesday, Feb. 3. Each student who buys a cake pop will quickly be reminded of the reason for their purchase, as each cake pop will be decorated with a fact about ovarian cancer.

Students will be asked to wear teal, the color of ovarian cancer awareness, on Friday, Feb. 5 to show their support. DHOVS will be taking pictures of any student sporting the color in Slayter Union. At 1:00 p.m. in Higley Auditorium, DHOVS member, Radhika Joshi ’18 will cut 1 inch off of her hair for every $25 donated.

Joshi is fearless when it comes to cutting her hair for the cause. The haircut has caused much anticipation on campus. “She’s really ecstatic,” Lai said. “All of her friends keep telling her they’re going to donate so she’ll have to do it.”

Through these unique activities, DHOVS hopes to fulfill their mission of magnifying an issue all women may be at risk of facing. Lai hopes students will learn more than the basic statistics and information about ovarian cancer. She hopes that students will think about why it is not a more widely talked about issue.

“We want Denison students to just be more aware of it simply because we talk a lot about breast cancer awareness and we want ovarian cancer to have awareness too,” Lai said. This week, Denison students will be able to learn why the issue deserves attention.