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Cooking. Frying. Baking. Singeing. Roasting?  

Words that describe what you’re doing to yourself when ‘tanning’. 

Most of the teenagers that I am around, specifically those obsessed with their appearance, are also obsessed with tanning; the darkening of their skin using ultra-violet rays from the sun. Why? They deem it attractive. As a pale person myself, who has had skin cancer removed before, it pains me to see all these people actively destroying their skin, cell by cell. Why is this? Do they think that the positives of looking ‘sun-kissed’ outweigh the negatives of long-term skin problems, including melanoma and cancer? Surely not.  

I, alongside my Community Problem Solving team here at WCC, believe this is due to a lack of education. 

Recently, I and four other Year 10 students have qualified for the national Future Problem-Solving Conference 2024 in Melbourne, as a team. Myself and Ashley T (Year 10) spent the weekend at the National Conference, showcasing our project to the wider Australian audience. We are involved in a specific division known as ‘Community Problem Solving’ where, unsurprisingly, we identify a problem with the community and develop an action plan to solve it. Our chosen problem this year is, you guessed it, misconceptions about tanning and the effects of excessive sun exposure on teens. We have noticed that a shocking amount of people our age are actively cooking their skin and are strongly convinced that we can solve this issue through future generations if we start now. 

So, we are developing an education scheme within the Primary School at WCC, making all students aware of the importance of sun protection. We are in the process of developing multiple educational resources to be implemented in the health curriculum, to ensure that kids learn nice and early. We have also managed to gain sponsorship from Cancer Council and Little Urchin, who are both providing us with sunscreen and an array of resources. How cool! 

Our extensive research for presentation at Nationals startled us with a range of alarming statistics; approximately 2 in 3 Australians are diagnosed with skin cancer before the age of 70, which gives Australia one of the highest skin cancer rates in the world. Further, 74% of young Australians believe that they are unlikely to get skin cancer, which further emphasises the extreme lack of awareness. 

So, what can you do? 

It’s important to know the right information. Shockingly, people believe the literal opposite of the truth when it comes to tanning; everyone thinks it’s healthy, when in fact it is actively unhealthy. Make sure that you educate yourself, so that you aren’t ending up with a variety of health issues, including skin cancer, which is actually the most preventable cancer of all.  

Use sunscreen. Applying and reapplying sunscreen should be a habit, just like brushing your teeth. Regardless of where you are, you need to reapply sunscreen every 2 hours, in all exposed areas of skin. This will be directly responsible for keeping you safe from all harmful UV radiation.  

Our project came 2nd in the entirety of our division in Australia, and was backed by a plethora of research, and personal motivation for change. We hope that we are able to share more about our Future Problem Solving journey as we progress with our project. To quote our team’s name and tagline: The Shade Brigade – Block the Rays, Happy Days!