Writer: Nguyen Le Quynh Nhi

ESSAY

Cancer. When people happen to hear that word, they will be frightened. From my observation, yet,
not everyone does something to reduce their cancer risk, especially young people. The young may
assume that cancer is the business of the middle-aged and elderly. But that is not true at all. Many
causes of cancer are directly related to habits and routines that have been formed over a long time. In
other words, unhealthy lifestyles built when we are young may pose a risk of getting this deadly disease
later on in life. Thus, to improve community well-being, I have an idea to build a project whose main
aim is to raise university students’ awareness of the importance of cancer prevention during their youth.
Three main activities of this project include opening talk shows and webinars; organizing a
podcast-making contest; and running a Facebook group.

First of all, during the project, there will be a series of (either) talk shows or webinars whose topics
are cancer and cancer prevention. For instance, the topics can be real causes of cancer, how to prevent
cancer, misunderstandings of cancer, how to build healthier lifestyles, etc. The speakers can be
oncologists, health influencers, or patients who survived this disease. Secondly, a podcast-making
contest will be held. With the growth and popularity of podcasts among young people recently, it is
hoped to get the attention and participation of more students to raise their voices about this problem.
Speaking of the podcast's content, participants are encouraged to tell their stories and share their
knowledge, as well as their experience with cancer, cancer prevention, wholesome lifestyle, and the
like. Finally, a Facebook group will be created and serve as a platform where members can get more
information, such as where to get a health checkup, symptoms of cancer, etc. And of course, at the same
time, they can share their knowledge of the disease as well. This last activity is expected to welcome not
only university students but people of other ages as well. All of those activities are run to encourage
participants to be more proactive in the prevention of cancer.

Speaking of myself, for the past three years, I have cultivated many essential soft skills to run
community projects, such as leadership, time-management, communication, etc. Besides, I have also
accumulated plenty of experience related to program coordination and personnel recruitment.
Altogether, I believe I can contribute to the project in the roles of a workshop or webinar coordinator
and a recruiter.

In the last three years, I lost two of my close relatives. They both passed away from cancer. The
bereavements shook me hard, and they made me fully aware of how important it is to lead a healthy life
and prevent cancer early. Recently, I came across a phrase that goes “make a difference always with
tomorrow in mind”. For me, my tomorrow is living in a community where people stop taking their
health for granted and build healthy habits to prevent cancer. And that tomorrow starts with the project
idea above.