Pupils play for charity

JACKSON - Another successful Gator Day has been held at the St. Aloysius School.

"Students in grades four through eight participated in a variety of outdoor challenges and enjoyed a day full of fun," said the school's public relations coordinator Olivia Taylor. "Gator Day, May 16, was a friendly competition between the Red and the Blue."

This year was unique because pupils in each class selected a charity they wished to represent during the events, Taylor said. The pupils were each asked to donate $1, although some of the youngsters contributed more than that amount.

The competition began with an opening ceremony. Each class prepared a song, poem and/or cheer and decorated a banner to introduce their chosen charity to the school.

"The games began and classes rotated through 10 events, including a bean bag toss, an obstacle course and the infamous shoe toss," Taylor said. "The final event was a modified curling competition designed by teacher Judith Suzuki with the Red and Blue teams taking on the challenge."

Throughout the day each class accumulated points. The class with the most points at the end of the day determined what charity would receive all of the donations.

The tournament points were tallied by math teachers Loreen Cebulski and Pamela Lopez while everyone waited patiently until the winning team was finally announced.

This year's winning team was class 8B and a total of $923 collected during the events will be donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

"Our students were very excited to compete for their chosen charities and the spirit of this year's competition stretched way beyond our school," Taylor said.

"I liked competing for the charities," sixth-grader Brian Peterson said. "That was cool!"

Sixth-grader Marina Quagliato said it was a good idea because she loves to help people.

Eighth-grader Kevin Kowalski said, "It was great. It was a fun day for all and to be able to help children at the same time gave me a great feeling."