Freezin’ for a reason
Area schools to take the plunge for Special Olympics
Students from some area schools are going to get wet and chilly Friday, but are doing so for a good cause.
The Polar Plunge Special Olympics PA fundraiser will be held at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh Friday and Saturday, with the Cool Schools plunge at 9 a.m. Friday.
Students and teachers will jump into an ice cold pool with all proceeds benefiting the 13,000 Special Olympics athletes across Pennsylvania.
A group of students from Waynesburg Central High School enjoyed taking the chilly leap in 2023 so much, they want to do it again. This year, 33 students will take part.
“I took a small group last year, they liked it so much they wanted to expand it,” said art teacher Joe Kuhns. “We’ve tripled the amount of kids that participated last year.”
The weather may be doing the icy plungers a favor Friday as the temperature is expected to be near 50 degrees.
Last year’s temperature wasn’t as favorable – Kuhns recalled it being in the 20s – and he wondered if there may have been some ice cubes in the pool to enhance the water’s frigid conditions.
“It was way colder in the water than it should have been,” Kuhns said. “I didn’t really know what to expect (last year), but the kids really enjoyed it. There’s thousands of kids there, so they get to mingle with other schools. ”
He called their 2023 foray into plunging a learning experience, and said the students will be equipped with better plunge-worthy clothing and towels.
Kuhns said the school’s art club discussed performing a community service, which led to participating in 2023.
“Now we’ve created a new club called the Waynesburg Central Sature-Raiders,” Kuhns said. “It keeps growing because it’s a really cool thing.”
Sature-Raiders, a group with the school’s art club, is a play on its district mascot (the Raiders) and the word saturate.
Kuhns said the school surpassed its goal of raising $1,000. As of Wednesday, Waynesburg Central had raised $3,740.
As of yesterday, Fort Friends of Fort Cherry Junior-Senior High School also exceeded its goal of raising $1,000.
Students at the school are plunge novices, jumping into the fun and fundraising for the first time this year.
Carolena Gasbarro, a life skills teacher at Fort Cherry, explained that a close friend is involved with the Special Olympics, so Gasbarro wanted to support the organization.
“We have about 30 (kids) between plunging and doing the balloon pop,” Gasbarro said, adding she will be jumping in as well.
The Fort Friends club is also in its first year at the school, with 45-50 members.
“They’ve been great with fundraising and they’re really excited to do it. From the beginning of the school year until now, it’s been wonderful. I’m excited to see how we can grow from here. It’s really cool to see them all come together,” Gasbarro said.
The Ringgold Unified Club will be 40 students strong when it arrives at Friday’s plunge. Like Fort Cherry, Ringgold is also participating for the first time.
“They can’t wait. I think this event is going to make them aware of inclusion and how important it is and empathy and treating people with kindness,” said Mandy Lutska, health and physical education teacher and club advisor.
When she jumps into the pool, Lutska will be joined by three of her colleagues who were chosen by the students.
“Obviously I had to go because of the club, but they picked the other three teachers,” Lutska said. “As soon as I asked, they all said absolutely, we’ll do it.”
As of Wednesday, Ringgold had raised $885, closing in on its $1,000 goal. Lutska said some money was raised online, and the rest was generated from a Valentine’s Day Candy Gram fundraiser.
Another first-time participant, Canon-McMillan, will bring about 20 students on Friday. The club at Canon-McMillan operates through its Best Buddies program.
“We’re super excited,” said Kali McFarland, life skills support teacher, who will be hopping into the water with the students. “It’s going to be a good time. It’s such a great cause.”
Canon-McMillan had raised $595 of its $1,000 goal as of Tuesday.
McFarland said the Best Buddies program has created quite a diverse community at Canon-McMillan High School.
“It’s been so nice,” she said. “We have the Best Buddies and partners here at Canon-Mac, so sweet and so willing to do everything I ask them to do. They’re so sweet with the kids in the life skills program. I get to see the kids in all sorts of different aspects after school. It’s been super cool. It’s been really cool to see students in the Special Olympics converse with those in the regular education field.”
The district supports unified sports programs for its special education students. Last year, track and field were added, with bocce starting up this year.
“It’s been such a positive thing for our students in our special education program. It’s so awesome to see them flourish in this kind of program,” McFarland said.
Some of the area teams have adopted a theme for their plunge. Rinngold students will sport school pride attire, and Canon-McMillan students are deciding between themes: superheroes, school spirit or Taylor Swift.
The Waynesburg Central team will sport shirts saying, “Shock and Thaw,” although some of the girls might wear tutus. While Fort Cherry didn’t have a theme, Gasbarro said there probably will be one next year.
The Three Rivers region of Special Olympics Pennsylvania, which covers 10 Western Pennsylvania counties, set a goal for $190,000 and as of Wednesday that number sat at $163,800. Donations can be made at https://specialolympicspa.org/cool-schools.
The rest of the weekend features the Happy Hour Plunge from 2-4 p.m. Friday and the General Plunge beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Even though temperatures are expected to be somewhat mild, Kuhns expects the water to still be quite cold.
“I know they’re going to put bags of ice in the water,” he said. “It would be a Polar Plunge if they didn’t do that.”