Levittown Teachers are Named Susan G. Komen Survivors of the Year

The Susan G. Komen Foundation has named MacArthur High School art teacher Tammy Mayer and business teacher Nicole Savage Survivors of the Year. Both women were honored during the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K run in Central Park and with an invitation to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month. Since 2012, Tammy and Nicole have worked with MacArthur High School students to raise $50,000 for the foundation.

“I wanted to give back everything I received from the people who helped me,” Savage said about her partnership with Mayer in spearheading MacArthur’s Pink-Out Game and other school fundraising activities. “It’s not just about raising money. We need to create a dialogue about breast cancer and to encourage women to get their mammograms.”

Savage is a five-year survivor of breast cancer and Mayer contracted the disease in 2007.

On Oct. 14, MacArthur High School will host its annual Pink-Out Game. Apparel sales, basket raffles, snack shack sales and donations will help raise additional money for the foundation. In addition, the National Art Honor Society will be painting pumpkins after school to benefit the cause. Mayer said the donations that role in each year make it a “community event.”

Savage said her goal is to help people focus on the message behind wearing pink. “Tammy and I want to keep the focus on what is important and to teach kids to look through the pink,” she said. “We don’t want them to forget what wearing pink means.”

Photo: MacArthur High School teachers Nicole Savage and Tammy Mayer with NBC’s Today Show personality Hoda Kotb during the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure in Central Park. Courtesy Levittown School District.