Brittany Brassell is a girl who knows how to think Seymour Pink.
Brassell, 17, of Seymour, soon to be a freshman at the University of Connecticut majoring in biology, was announced this week as the winner of the annual Seymour Pink T‑shirt design contest.
Seymour Pink is a local — and extremely active movement — that raises money to fight breast cancer.
Brassell used a Microsoft Word program to design a shirt for the annual Seymour Pink fund-raising events. A panel of anonymous judges selected her design as the best from 18 entries.
The words in her design include faith, love, hope, and courage,which she said she thinks of as being important in the fight against breast cancer.
“I spent a night on it, probably a couple of hours work, brainstorming,” said Brassell, who was introduced to the local press by members of Seymour Pink Inc. at the main entrance of Seymour High School Wednesday.
She was a senior at Seymour High earlier this year when she entered the contest.
She won a $300 scholarship from Seymour Pink Inc. to help her pay her UConn bills.
But more importantly, she has the satisfaction of knowing that 1,800 copies of her design will be printed on T‑shirts that will be sold during Seymour Pink Week in October.
“It feels pretty good,” Brassell said of her accomplishment.
This is the third year of Seymour Pink week fund-raising events, said Mary Ellen LoGuidice, a member of the Seymour Pink Inc. board of directors. She introduced Brassell to the local press Tuesday along with Theresa Conroy, the former state representative from Seymour who is publicity director for the Seymour Pink campaign.
Seymour Pink Inc. has raised about $100,000 in that time, through fundraising events that include the sale of pink T‑shirts for people to wear on Seymour Pink Day, LoGuidice said.
The organzation’s leadership designed the shirt the first year. Last year was the first year a local contest was held for the shirt designs.
The Town of Seymour this year has proclaimed Wednesday, Oct. 19, to be Seymour Pink Day. It will be a day for people to “think pink,
decorate pink and wear pink,” according to a letter the group is sending out to local businesses.
The new t‑shirt will be sold for $10. It will be available for sale at businesses including Tickled Pink, Seybridge Pharmacy and Gifts, Hair Intrigue, and the Country Creamery, which is in Oxford.
It will also be available at Seymour Town Hall.
Mary Deming, president and founder of Seymour Pink Inc., said the design contest gave the group the chance to bring students into the fight and expose them to the importance of battling breast cancer at an early age.
“This contest is a win-won for the artist and for Seymour Pink,” Deming said.
For further information, visit Seymour Pink on the web or contact them via email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
