Fundraiser at high-school game taps Chaparral, Saguaro rivalry
High-school football rivalries long have been an exciting part of community life.
That holds true in Scottsdale, where Chaparral High School went head to head with rival Saguaro High School to kick off the high-school football season on Aug. 30. Chaparral won the game 52-27.
Ashundreds of students, parents and alumni showed loyalty to their schools, two Chaparral students demonstrated loyalty of a different kind.
Andrew Stachel and Jordan Gonen sold apparel on behalf of Charity Wear, which the two juniors formed with the goal of selling clothing to benefit charitable causes.
On that Friday night, two T-shirts with rivalry designs were sold on the Saguaro and Chaparral sides of the Chaparral High School field, uniting both teams for a greater cause.
The shirts benefited the Samantha Stachel “Play Big” Scholarship Fund at Arizona State University’s Barrett, the Honors College.
The scholarship was founded by Stachel’s parents to honor Andrew’s older sister. Samantha was a graduate of Chaparral and had looked forward to attending Barrett this fall.
Like her brother, Samantha founded a community-service club while at Chaparral, called Helping Hands, which is still existent at the school.
However, Samantha’s life was cut short in April by Ewing’s sarcoma, a cancer she had battled since she was 7 years old.
The fund was created by Samantha’s parents, Barrie and Paul, to inspire and support Barrett students who, like Samantha, excel in academics and community service despite being faced with difficult circumstances.
Charity Wear ended up meeting their initial goal of raising $10,000 at the rivalry game. That does not include the funds raised by the Saguaro Student Government, which also participated in the fundraiser.
“It was a very united feeling at the game. They made an announcement about what Charity Wear and Saguaro’s (Student Government) had united to do. They thanked both communities for working together to play big,” said Barrie Stachel.
Community support had al- ways been important to Samantha.
Barrie said Samantha would have been most happy to see the communities collaborating to get the greater message out to always “play big” regardless of challenges or restrictions.
“When you’re challenged and you can still overcome things, greatness can really come out of your life. We want to be able to have Samantha’s story touch people’s lives as an impetus for them to launch and become a big part of our world and change the world for a better place,” said her father, Paul Stachel.
One “Play Big” scholarship will go to the benefit of any Barrett student who applies; the other, to a Chaparral alumnus, Paul Stachel said.
The goal was to raise $100,000 by the first year and grow to $500,000 in successive years. In four months more than $110,000 was raised, not including the proceeds from the rivalry game.