Oct. 16--HAMDEN -- Chocolate is starting to take over at the culinary arts kitchen, where Hamden High School senior Amanda Goodwin is winning over the staff in exchange for a donation to the American Cancer Society.
By selling chocolate-covered pretzels and Oreos she makes and bags in the kitchen, Goodwin, 17, a senior, so far has raised $120 for the cancer society.
She started making and selling the goodies last week and will continue the sale through the end of October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. She said she's been making chocolate confections for about five years now and would like to open a store some day.
"They're addicting. The first day she sold out," said Assistant Principal Dana Mulligan. "I bring a healthy salad for lunch and I wash it down with chocolate."
Goodwin buys milk and white chocolate, melts it in a double-boiler on the stove, puts the chocolate on waxed paper on a counter, covers the pretzels with the chocolate, then covers them with crushed pink M&M's.
After the Oreos are covered with chocolate, she marks them with a pink chocolate ribbon. They're stored in the freezer for a short time and then get packaged into small plastic bags and sell for $1 each. She then wraps the top of each bag with a pink ribbon and a tag that says "October is National Breast Cancer Month. Make someone you love aware." "It's a good cause," she said of her awareness mission, adding that her grandmother was a breast cancer survivor, but that an aunt died from the disease.
"It's a fight-able disease if you catch it early. As soon as that age gets here, I'm going," she said, referring to getting mammograms.
The American Cancer Society says women age 40 and older should have a screening mammogram and a breast exam by a health professional every year; that women in their 20s and 30s should have a clinical breast exam as part of a regular health exam by a health professional, preferably every three years, and that women in their 20s should practice breast self-exams.
Amanda's mother, Laura Goodwin, has participated in fundraisers for the cancer society in the past through her job with Quest Diagnostics. The money will be forwarded to the cancer society through a contact her mother has, Amanda said.
Among the regular chocolate purchasers are school office manager Jane Glynn. Glynn said she has purchased the pretzels and Oreos for clerks in the school "as a small remembrance for somebody else. It's a constant reminder to people in the building of how important breast cancer awareness is."
"It's a great cause and a great product," said culinary arts teacher Gregg Amter, who called Amanda a "go-getter."
While the staff is stopping in the culinary arts kitchen regularly for its chocolate fix, students aren't as lucky. Chocolate and candy aren't sold in the school as part of the school district's wellness policy.
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