Inklings
Volume 73 Issue 7 • Crown Point High School • 1500 S. Main Street Crown Point, IN 46307 • inklings@cps.k12.in.us
• Friday March 20, 2009
Tomorrow’s forecast High 40° Low 29°
Saturday: Cloudy with a few showers
Penny wars raise $5,850 By Anna Ortiz / graphics editor Finally the tally is in, resulting in five winning classes that collected the most money. Industrial technology and corporation teacher Karen Topp tops the rest of the classes as her first hour class raised a sum of $596.99. The second, third, fourth and fifth winning classes go as follows: English teacher Annie Domasica’s first hour at $372.45, art teacher Karen Cox’s class with $353.11, teacher Kevin Cash’s class at $311.84 and English teacher (and fundraiser organizer) Rachele Raloff’s first period class with $283.06. Crown Point High School as a whole raised $5,853.49 to go to the St. Baldrick’s fundraiser for children with cancer. Joseph Reid raised $741.83, but due to the amount of bills that were donated within his classes, he officially totalled about $250. “We decided to donate paper money too. Two students of mine brought in $50 bills. Our goal was to simply collect as much money as possible,” Reid said. Topp, too, felt the same charitable as well as personal motivation. She dedicates the donations to her friends’ second grade daughters, Megan and Emily, who passed away from cancer.
Save cash at the movies
Perfect scores at ISSMA
If you are tired of spending up to $10 for one movie, check out these easy ways to see the same flicks for less
Senior AJ Jabarin and sophomore Kelsey Emery earn perfect scores at the ISSMA state music competition
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Shaving the way to conquer cancer Current total at $23,618.84 with donations still coming in $5,853.49 raised just in spare change. 126 willing shavees. One cure. St. Baldrick’s is the world’s largest volunteer-driven fundraising event for childhood cancer research. Participants shave their heads to represent children with cancer, and raise money in the process through donations. Students at Crown Point High School who pledge to be shaved are expected to raise $200 for childhood cancer research and shave their heads. The shave-off for the volunteers took place at CPHS on March 17. English teacher and student council adviser Rachele Raloff believes that St. Baldrick’s is a good cause. “St. Baldrick’s is a worthy cause to help lower the death rates caused by pediatric cancer,” Raloff said. She decided to do this program again after the previous success. Students and teachers rose over $23,000 last year and student council wanted to try St. Baldrick’s for another year. She feels that the students were more than willing to help. “Students are willing to help out or raise money however they can. Student council led up Penny Wars to help raise money. First hour classes raised $5,853.49,” she said. However, this year FOX got involved in the program. “FOX is helping to spread the word about the importance of pediatric cancer research,” Raloff said. Sophomore shavee Sondra
Eisler also believes that St. Baldrick’s is a great program because it is working to find a cure for childhood cancer, which she feels is necessary and important. “I think that it’s a great cause to raise money for cancer research. It is helping to find a cure, and I think we need to keep trying to find one,” Eisler said. She asked for help from people, like her family, friends, and neighbors, who were willing to donate money for the cause and help her meet her $200 goal. She feels that everyone can help, no matter what they do. Eisler believes anything can make a difference, because these people really need it, and that is one of the things that prompted her to become involved in St. Baldrick’s. “Just thinking if someone I actually knew had cancer and pretty much had to go bald, I know that they would hate it. I would love for someone I knew and someone who cared to do if for me, if I were in their shoes. I wanted to be a girl and prove that it’s fine to be bald and that anyone can be strong,” Eisler said. Although she does admit that it was hard at times, she feels that the hardest part was counting down the days and building up
Photo By Becca Iddings
Freshman Andrea Reichley gets her head shaved for St. Baldrick’s in the gymnasium. Reichley was one of 126 participants. the excitement and stress of it all. “It’s like a type of thing that you have to count down for because you are so excited for it the day and event to happen, but
once it comes, it’s like you don’t want it to happen at the same time,” Eisler said.
story by Nikki Sekuloski
Bake sales, raffles raise additional funds for the fight against cancer By Nikki Sekuloski and Matt Smith/ reporter and co-entertainment editor In the midst of St. Baldricks and Penny Wars, the fight against cancer rages on. Many people have taken it upon themselves to help the cause. Science teacher Kelly Loving is among them. “I ran a ‘personal’ bake sale and all of the money went to the program. I love to cook and this was a good reason,” Loving said. Although, he does not personally know any children suffering from cancer, he does know people who have been affected by cancer. In general, he believes that St. Baldrick’s is a great idea to raise money and build up awareness. “I raised money from the bake sale last year and it was successful, so I decided to do it again,” he said. English teacher Lisa Landgrebe also helped to raise money for St. Baldrick’s. She made and sold cookies, donating all the money for the cause.
“I baked at least once, sometimes twice, a week to have fresh cookies for students. I made probably close to 100 dozen cookies. We raised $623.36 for St. Baldrick’s,” Landgrebe said. Landgrebe also sold raffle tickets for $1 each and the prize was a $20 gift card of their choice. The gift card was paid for by Landgrebe herself, not from the ticket money, and all proceeds went to St. Baldrick’s. “I like the idea of making people aware of the pediatric cancer problems in the area. St. Baldrick’s is a great way to have kids make a connection to other kids that may not be as fortunate and the cookie sale was a fun way to have students contribute,” she said. In the end, Landgrebe felt that the students were extremely willing to help and that is what helped the success of the program. “It’s nice to see the kids get involved in an event like this. It’s nice to know that the kids care about a project and cause that is bigger than themselves,” she said.
Joining the fight, Timothy Ball Elementary School recently held a school-wide fundraiser from for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, a voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research. Over the two week long fundraiser, the elementary school raised a total of $2,738.44, exceeding their goal by over 500 percent. Their original goal of $500 was surpassed almost immediately, raising a total of $506 on the first day. “I didn’t really know what to expect, given economic times,” T-Ball nurse Pat Guritz said. “I was totally amazed by the result.” Guritz, along with PTO secretary Tammy Loosemore, organized this fundraiser, in which hundreds of children participated in from Feb. 9-20. Many different incentives were offered over the course of this time in order to encourage donations. “Any child that donated any amount of money got a sticker that said ‘I made a
difference today’,” Guritz said. “We also sold paper pennies for $1, which were posted around the school with students’ names on them. We even had a sort of spirit week, where the kids paid 50 cents to participate.” Guritz also offered prizes such as pizza or ice cream parties to classes who raised the most money. “Even with all of the incentives, however, it didn’t seem like the kids were doing it to win,” Guritz said. “They really wanted to help out.” Guritz has already been asked to do the fundraiser next year, and she thinks it is a great idea. This season of fundraisers has gotten everyone in the community involved in the fight against cancer, from adults to children. Their reasons for helping vary, but perhaps 9-year-old Stephen Carlson says it best. “I think it’s a good idea to give money,” Carlson said. “I want to help, because there are a lot of nice people who don’t deserve cancer.”