From one teen to another, a local student is hoping he can get his peers to think about the dangers of skin cancer.
"I'm a senior at Marywood Palm Valley High School," Wills Lavin told a Freshman class at Palm Desert High Friday.
He's not just a high school senior, Lavin, 17, is also founder of the Melanoma Awareness Project of The Desert.
MAP is a non-profit created with this goal in mind..."Going to every middle school and high school in the valley (teaching about skin cancer)," Lavin said.
Lavin started the group in 2008 after realizing there were no programs to educate teens about skin cancer here in the valley.
So far, he's given presentations to about 750 students.
"These are all melanoma (moles) taken off of young people. The top two are from 17 year old girls. (It) shows even at a young age it could happen to you," Lavin said showing the class photos of irregular moles.
Lavin targets topics important to teens.
"At tanning booths, you're exposed to 13 times more sun than sitting outside so it's like cancer in a box," said Lavin.
Melanoma is the most common form of cancer for young adults between 25 and 29.
Lavin passes out free sunblock to help with prevention. He shows the class how to spot irregular moles.
Lavin is hoping the message will spread. He's looking for other students to get involved since he'll be off to college next year.
"It's a good feeling (knowing) what you're doing actually makes an impact," he said.
There's a free melanoma screening clinic on Saturday. If you're intrested, contact the Melanoma Awareness Project of the Desert at 760-324-3744. You can also call that number if you're interested in volunteering.
