Lower Canada College students and staff ‘Move for Movember’

It’s Movember, an annual movement aimed at raising awareness and funds for men’s health — focusing on mental health, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.

“Movember is the leading charity dedicated to changing the face of men’s health,” said Marie-Noëlle Roy, Senior Manager, Development and Engagement, Quebec for Movember.

While not all of us can grow a mustache, we can still make a change.

That is exactly what students and staff at Lower Canada College in NDG are doing. They have been getting involved in several initiatives that are being organized as part of the Movember campaign, including a five-kilometre run.

“We were inspired by some of the Movember content that was put out on YouTube about community and getting people involved both in physical activity and within the community,” said Dima Povalyaev, Coordinator of Student Leadership and Co-Curricular Engagement at Lower Canada College. “So, our five Movember heads had the idea of doing a community run. We got 15 students, five faculty members, and five young alumni to all participate in our first-ever, what we hope will become an annual 5k run at 7:30 in the morning in subzero temperatures. We met up, and by 8 a.m., we were running around the NDG community.”

“We ran five kilometers around NDG, and it was hard for me,” added Josh Dalfen, a student at LCC, and one of the five Movember heads at his school, spreading awareness for the cause. “I’m not really used to running, but it felt really good spreading awareness of men’s mental health, that is often overlooked.”

“It feels really good to raise a lot of money for this cause,” he added.

Matthew Boroff is another student who participated in the run and has a personal connection to the cause.

“I feel like men’s mental health and prostate cancer have really affected me and my family in past years. My grandpa, about 15 years ago, was affected by it and had to go through surgery. So I feel a connection to it, and I felt like running and participating in Movember this year at LCC would be good for me and would be good to raise awareness,” said Boroff.

“I’m very proud to be taking part in this initiative this year and to be active in my school and in the community as well,” he added.

In addition to the run, students are getting involved in several other ways.

“Some of our older students are starting a fundraising campaign that they’ve done for the last couple of years,” explained Michelle Daigneault, a Junior School teacher and coach at Lower Canada College. “They have a number of heads that are leading the campaign, and it’s strictly to raise funds and awareness for Movember. The students talk on a weekly basis at assembly about topics like movement, community, and different things that will help them with their mental health. Then we did our run.”

The campaign also encourages participants to “Move for Mental Health.”

“If we think about running or walking 60 kilometres, that’s 60 kilometres for the 60 men we lose to suicide globally every hour. So, every minute we lose one person. It’s 60 people per hour globally. So, that’s why running or walking 60 kilometres during the month is a very good way to do Movember as well. And a lot of people are doing it,” explained Roy.

Daigneault is ready to run for a cause, putting the ‘mo’ in momentum. Aside from the school’s initiative, she is also planning to run as part of ‘Move for Movember,’ and all the funds will contribute to the school’s collective goal.

“Because I’m a runner, I decided to make it a little bit more of a challenging goal or something more relative to me. And so, I’m going to run 10 kilometres every day for the whole month, which totals 300 kilometres,” she said.

“My link between running and mental health is that it brings a community for me, it helps me like chase my goals, it helps me start conversations with people, it gives me structure and routine, which are all things that have benefited my mental health. And so, I’m happy to share that with other people and move and sweat and do a bunch of things that I’ve learned over the years to help me. So, I’m happy to share that with the students here at LCC.

“Mental health in general is just something that I try to focus on and raise awareness for all the time. But then, particularly men’s mental health, because there is such a stigma around starting conversations and talking about it.”

Povalyaev explained the importance of raising awareness for mental health and the Movember campaign.

“Mental health exists for everybody. It might not always be prevalent and present, but we’re all going to experience it one time or another. I’m lucky there’s been no prostate cancer within the men’s side of my family, but my mother did pass away from cancer. So, though it’s not male-related, I feel all cancers should be held equally, and fighting male cancer or female cancer, to me, is at the same level,” he expressed.

“We’re all impacted by men’s health, whether directly or indirectly. A lot of our students, it might be their fathers, grandfathers, or uncles; a lot of our faculty and staff, there’s always a personal connection. It’s really fun to see some of those students take the personal connection and do something empowering with it.”

According to Movember campaign, on average, men die five years earlier than women – and from largely preventable causes. More than 1.4 million men around the world are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. The campaign estimates that number will rise to 2.3 million men by 2040.

What’s more, the Movember campaign says more than two-thirds of death by suicide are men.

“It’s critical to do something and to talk more about men’s health and just to grow their mustache. It’s an example just to show how we need to talk about that. So, by growing a mustache, we start the discussion,” said Roy.

Roy mentions that men’s mental health is still stigmatized, but it’s important to have the conversations about it, as mental health affects everyone.

“When a man has mental health or health problems, it’s not just affecting him: it touches everyone around him. It touches your family, your friends, and everyone close to you. So if something happens to one of our men, like my dad, my father, or my brother, you’ll notice, and it will affect you too. That’s why it’s so important to talk about it,” she said.

Last year, LCC raised more than $22,000 and are the three-times running national champs for the high school bracket.

“It feels great, though we don’t really do it for titles,” said Povalyaev. “We try to instill leadership in our students and a sense of community. And with Movember, we’re really able to accomplish both of those things. The titles of champions — that’s a little cherry on the cake — but really, we do it for the community.

“I think it’s great that our community decides to put their money into this initiative,” added Daigneault. “I’m happy to be a part of it, and I think it’s special this year that we added the run piece — something actionable to help them besides just raising funds.”

This year, the school is hoping to surpass that goal. If they do, a special surprise is in store for Povalyaev.

“Our goals get more and more ambitious,” he said. “I think three or four years ago it was 15. We surpassed that easily, then went to 20 and we surpassed that. The most we ever raised was just over $27,000. So this year our goal is $25,000. In years past, the top three fundraisers just got to shave my head and I’d have to keep whatever haircut they gave me for three days. This year we’re gonna give my hair a little bit of a break, and we’re gonna dye it platinum blonde if they’ve reached their goal. So the top three fundraisers will get to go on stage and see what I look like if I was a blonde.”

For those wishing to donate to the initiative or get involved, they can easily do so.

“We encourage (students) to start their own page, and if not, they can donate at ours by typing in Lower Canada College Lions, Movember. Whether it’s walking, running, donating, or simply opening up discussions about mental health, there’s a lot of ways each individual can do something,” said Povalyaev.

“Get involved any way you can and open up those discussions about mental health, because it does affect us all, whether it be now or in the future.”