The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
DODGEBALL AND PIES!
School fundraiser benefits Relay for Life, TMS debate team
TORRINGTON » There was a greater-than-usual chance of being hit in the face — with a pie, that is — Wednesday afternoon at Torrington Middle School.
Students and staff members took part in a dodgeball tournament and pie-a-teacher event in the gym, as they raised funds to support Relay for Life and the TMS debate team.
The games of dodgeball were fierce, with the students thrilling or despairing at each swing in the games’ momentum, and the pies were bourne with good humor by the chosen adults.
Board of Education member Armand Maniccia, vice-principal Charlie McSpiritt, and seventh-grade math teacher Jim Fitzgerald were chosen as the recipients for the pies Wednes-
day, and their respective candidacies raised the most money in the fundraiser.
This is the ninth time the school has held such a fundraiser, English teacher Angelo Calabrese said Wednesday.
More than $400 has been raised each year to support “Team Cannon” of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, and the travel expenses of the school debate team, Calabrese said.
The debate team, according to the school’s website, is open to students of sixth to eighth grade who are in good standing with academics, attendance, and behavior. Members compete in the Connecticut Middle School Debate League and the Civics First State Debate Competition, and strengthen their research, public speaking, and argumentative writing skills as members. The team was undefeated in the spring 2017 league debate on colonizing Mars. It holds a 9-1 record in the 2015-16 CT Middle School Debate League with a first place finish in the winter competition, and was a quarter-finalist in the Civics First Hartford Capitol Debate in 2012. Individual members have also won or placed, most recently winning third in the winter 2016 league debate. The team has raised more than $2,500 for Relay for Life over the last eight years.
After the results of Wednesday’s event were tallied, $468.75 was raised this year, Calabrese said.
The Relay for Life team was formed in honor of Maureen Cannon, a former science teacher at the school who died from cancer in 2011. Relay for Life events are held nationally all year, raising money to benefit research and support provided by the American Cancer Society. Numerous Relays are held in Connecticut, and the Relay for Life of Litchfield County will be held June 24-25 at Plumb Hill Fields in Litchfield.
Calabrese, who is one of the advisors for the debate team and served as the emcee and referee for the dodgeball games, said he hoped the students took a message about community away from the event.
“I want them to see we’re a community. We’re all in it together,” said Calabrese. “If you’re active in the community, it gets better.”