Walking around campus these days, you may see men sporting a fuzzy caterpillar above their upper lips, a Fu Manchu or maybe just patchy stubble for those who were not blessed by the beard gods.
But the November trend is more than men celebrating what they can or cannot grow, it’s  “Movember,” an effort to let men sport the hairy look while raising money and awareness for men’s health.
Junior Josh Budzinski has been not only spreading the word of Movember and all the benefits it can provide, but he and other members of Castleton State College have been raising money to donate to the organization. The money donated to Movember will be distributed to LIVESTRONG Foundation, Prostate Cancer Foundation and Movember Foundation.
“As of now, we have raised about $500. It’s not much, but as a team I think $1,000 would be a good final goal,” said Budzinski.
As a CA last year, Budzinski hosted “No-Shave-November” and while doing research he came across us.movember.org, the official site to promote and educate readers about men’s health.  Although he instantly became interested in the project, it was a little too late to do it for the year. So this year he has stepped up and created a program to help his fellow men learn about and help fight diseases like prostate and testicular cancer.
“It’s a good idea to help raise money for cancer and the foundation. It’s important because it’s a leading cause of deaths,” said Cyle Machia.
Not only did Budzinski put up fliers to spread the word, but he also reached out to faculty and females on campus. Although most females don’t have facial hair, if they really wanted they could go natural and not shave their legs or underarms. It might be an interesting sight to see or in some cases feel.
“Women are encouraged to participate in every way possible. They can’t grow facial hair, but they can help spread the message of the importance of men’s health. Women are important factors in the growth and development of men’s health,” said Budzinski.
CSC’s Movember group currently has about 38 peach-fuzz-filled faces for members, but they are always looking for more members and more ways to raise awareness and donations.
“I hope it has a continued and growing future here. It’s a great thing to do on a college campus because everyone is pretty connected, like through sports, so it’s pretty easy to get the word around,” said Budzinski.