Five students used a big screen and QR codes to run a breast cancer awareness campaign at their college in Plaistow, continuing a campaign started in Shadwell nearly 13 years ago.

The screen faced the approach to the NewVIc campus displaying a message to their classmates arriving for lessons and tutorials.

It urged them to ‘check their boobs’ and understand any signs and symptoms of breast cancer and to act quickly if they spot anything unusual.

The college competed with other sixth form and further education establishments around the country in the CoppaFeel! Challenge awareness competition and came out on top.

The challenge was set up in 2011 by Kristin Hallenga, a 25-year-old from Shadwell who sent out text messages to get women to check themselves regularly — while battling with breast cancer herself.

Kristin woke up one night when she was just 23 with shooting pains and had no idea what they were.

Doctors in 2009 twice told her it was “nothing to worry about” and Kristin carried on with life as normal.

But eight months later she was bleeding from her breast, by then too late — she was diagnosed as incurable.

Her CoppaFeel! charity today continues her mission encouraging young people to check themselves regularly.

Five students at NewVic took up the CoppaFeel! Challenge and a netball versus basketball match was held in front of hundreds of students to spread the message about breast cancer, organised by college sports manager Katie Harris.

“We wanted to educate everyone on how to check themselves and spot any signs of breast cancer,” Katie said. “Events like this put breast cancer and the importance of chest checking in the spotlight.”

Kristin now lives with Stage 4 cancer at the age of 38. She was named Cosmopolitan magazine’s ‘Woman of the Year’ in 2011.

She told the East London Advertiser at the time: “I might not have been in this situation if I’d had more knowledge about breast cancer.”

Kristin set up her CoppaFeel! charity from her flat in Shadwell with her twin sister Maren to get young women to check regularly for lumps and recognise any potential cancer symptoms.

The charity campaigns at festivals, universities and sixth form colleges like NewVIc, to remind young women to check themselves regularly.