Bridgewater-Raritan High Team 303 joins Turn the Towns Teal Event

By Aradhya Rajanala

On August 29 and 30, Bridgewater-Raritan High School Robotics Team 303 came together to participate in the Turn the Towns Teal event. This event is part of a national organization and helps raise awareness for Ovarian Cancer, a disease that is nearly impossible to detect in its early stages and can have devastating consequences. In this event, Team 303 members and other volunteers tied teal ribbons on trees, flagpoles, and mailboxes around Bridgewater to spread awareness of this disease and the symptoms that it can cause by ensuring that this disease is known.

On September 9th, an official Ribbon-Tying Ceremony was held at the Bridgewater Municipal Building. There, many organizations supporting victims of cancer including Turn the Towns Teal, NOCC and Robert Wood Johnson Hospital came together to support this cause. Team 303 attended this event as well, bringing along teal uniforms and their robot from the previous year’s competition. The speakers at the event included Dan Hayes, the mayor of Bridgewater and Renee Edwards, a stage 4 ovarian cancer survivor and the head of the Bridgewater Turn the Towns Teal event.

In order to mitigate this disease, it must be diagnosed as early as possible, which can only happen when a patient complains specifically of the known symptoms, which include bloating, pelvic pain, and trouble eating. If these signs appear irregularly and persist over ten days, one should go and see a doctor to report these symptoms.

Team 303 is grateful for the opportunity to help in raising awareness for such an important cause, and is looking forward to supporting this event next year!

Team 303 is a FIRST robotics team based out of Bridgewater Raritan High School. For more information on 303 or FIRST, please visit team303.com or usfirst.org.