The Powerful United Ladies Striving to Elevate held its 14th-annual Breast Cancer Festival, themed My Body, My Cure this year, to spread awareness and promote education for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Held in the Mandela Room on Saturday, PULSE — an organization committed to educating, elevating and uplifting women of color on campus — sought to teach students how to reclaim control over their physical and mental health by maintaining a balanced diet, exercising regularly, dancing and stretching, focusing on women with breast cancer.

Tickets were $8, with all proceeds donated to SHARE Cancer Support, a nonprofit organization raising awareness about breast and gynecological cancer. Students were encouraged to wear pink, and the event offered free food and games.

“Black women are more likely to face more aggressive and advanced-stage breast cancer at a younger age, and they have a higher mortality rate from the disease,” PULSE wrote to Pipe Dream. “These disparities in outcomes may stem from systemic issues, such as lower quality healthcare and limited access to mammograms, along with lifestyle factors like diet and weight that differ across ethnic groups.”

According to the American Cancer Society, women of color, particularly Black women, are at a higher risk of dying from breast cancer than white women. The Breast Cancer Research Foundation reports that Black women are statistically more likely to experience risk factors associated with breast cancer, including diabetes, heart disease and obesity and are less likely to have adequate access to health insurance and health care facilities, creating barriers to breast cancer screening and treatment.

“I really hope that the message ‘My Body, My Cure’ resonates with a lot of people because this message is really saying that we want people to take their lives into their own hands,” said Sameeha Khan, PULSE’s community service events coordinator and a sophomore double-majoring in philosophy, politics and law and environmental studies. “And by this, we mean to be aware of your habits, of your health, because it’s not just your own life that you’re looking out for. It’s the fact that we believe that we should trust in our health care system and trust in systems as a whole to support us in our times of need, but the truth is that, as women of color, we need to be aware of the disparities and the issues that we might face if we ever were in that situation.”

Several other student organizations, including the Food Co-op, the BU chapter of the American Cancer Society, Pretty Girls Sweat and Binghamton Minds, attended the festival, hoping to help educate students about breast cancer.

“I think there’s over 10 organizations here right now, so I think that’s really cool that everyone can come together for a cause like this,” said John Lauricella, president of BU’s American Cancer Society and a senior majoring in business administration. “Clearly, PULSE is putting in a lot of time and effort into decorations and setting this up. I think it’s a really special one.”

Members from each organization were invited to speak about breast cancer awareness and offer ways for women to protect their health through fitness and nutrition. The event also featured a guest speaker from the Share Cancer Support organization.

Toward the end of the event, Pretty Girls Sweat, an organization dedicated to empowering women in college through fitness, led a Zumba class. Jenna Tomkiel, the co-nutritionist of Pretty Girls Sweat and a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, shared the benefits of fitness for women battling breast cancer, inspiring them to be active in caring for their health.

“It keeps your body strong, and it allows you to build a routine and build ways to be able to take care of yourself, which is always essential whether it’s fighting breast cancer or going through very invasive treatments, knowing ways to take care of yourself both physically and mentally and in terms of nutrition is very important,” Tomkiel said.