Concord Regional Technical Center’s Sharon Bean was recently named a winner of IMPACT Melanoma’s 2019 Your Skin Is In Teacher Stipend program. This annual program awards educators a $250 stipend for utilizing the Your Skin Is In program in their respective classroom. By taking a pledge and spending time teaching to actively spread awareness of skin cancer, teachers make a strong and lasting IMPACT on their students, schools, and communities by promoting education and risk prevention around this important public health issue. “Bringing ‘Your Skin Is In’ into the classroom is important to me because the teenagers I have are our future health professionals,” said Concord Regional Technical Center’s Sharon Bean. “The Your Skin Is In eLearning is interactive, fun and filled with facts about melanoma that everyone should know. Most importantly, it taught my students about what causes melanoma and how to prevent it. The eLearning lesson taught everyone in the class something new about prevention. The two key facts were that sunscreen needs to be reapplied every two hours, not a ‘one and done’ application for the day, and that dark clothing is a better UV protector than light-colored clothing. It taught my students how to assess lesions of concern, and to advise those in concern to see their healthcare provider to have it further assessed. Lastly, the videos role play some conversation strategies that they could use in the future.”
In order to be considered for one of the program’s stipends, each educator needed to complete IMPACT Melanoma’s Your Skin Is In eLearning course, present the lesson in their classroom, encourage students and community members to protect the skin they’re in, and submit a written application outlining their experience. For more information, visit IMPACTmelanoma.org.