On Friday December 6, 2024, students and staff from Silver Creek and Forestville schools took part in the NY Special Olympics Cool School Polar Plunge Challenge for the fifth year in a row.
The Cool School Challenge is the first of the NY Special Olympics two-day Polar Plunge Event. On the first Friday of December, schools from across the Western New York area come together to raise money and take the plunge into the cold waters of Lake Erie at Woodlawn Beach.
This year the team was able to shatter all previous fundraising amounts, raising more than $13,400! The Silver Creek -Forestville team was the #1 fundraising team from all of Chautauqua County, #4 fundraising team for the Cool School Challenge (out of 35 school teams), and the #8 fundraising team for the entire two-day event. In the past five years the team has raised over $40,000 for Special Olympic Athletes.
For every $500 raised, a Special Olympic athlete is sponsored for an entire year. This year, the team was able to sponsor 26 athletes and over the course of their five years participating, they have sponsored 80 total athletes.
Weather and icy, windy conditions at the beach made it difficult for those in attendance to “plunge” in the lake, instead the students and staff participated in a Polar Plunge Spray. Alternate arrangements were made for teams to run through the snow and get sprayed by a fire truck.
Silver Creek and Forestville combine their Unified Sports programming, which is a division of Special Olympics. Unified sports brings students with and without disabilities together to participate in different events and sports allowing them to promote inclusion and acceptance of all individuals.
Participants in the Polar Plunge needed to raise $125 in donations. Students from Silver Creek who raised $125 or more and participated this year included: Eli Austin, Ella Austin, Dakota Bastedo, Derek Bauer, Auggie Boedo, Payton Cain, Troy Copper, Katryn Davis, MiaBella Delmonte, Sawyer Delmonte, Lilly Fox, Abbie Gawron, Claire Gonzalez, Alex Januchowski, Katherine Jones, Trent Lack, Donnie Lindow, Eliza Mahaney, Grayson McChesney, Liana Parsell, Carter Pierce, Haley Ross, Summer Sanden, Lilly Shaw, Molly Shaw, Gwen Souter, Ethan Vecchio, Izzy Vecere Saletta, Bryan Wager, Aubrey Waite, Troy Wronek, and Emily Yerke, as well as alumni Julie Decker and staff- Janet Decker, Megan Cook, Mackenzie Elliot, Amy Heller, Matthew Miller, and Elicia Prinzbach. Students from Forestville who raised $125 or more included Kaylee Adamczak, Nicolette Adgate, Olivia Butcher, Ellie Cross, Ella Duliba, Ingrid Gibson, Kody Gozdziak, Emma Hodkin, Kaitlyn LoMonto, Ali Kerstetter, Finn Muck, Iris Muck, Troy Muck, Janelle Parisio, Meredith Stelmack, Madison Thompson, Olivia Valentine, and Jade Work, as well as staff member Brenda Kerstetter. Several students also raised enough money to plunge but were unable to attend included from Silver Creek: Alaina Edwards, Joe Edwards, and Khloe Karnes and from Forestville: Breanna Loretto, Sophia Smith, and Brenna Valentine. Several individuals from both schools raised $500 or more, including Janet and Julie Decker each raised $500, Matthew Miller who raised $525, and Haley Ross who raised $636.
The Polar Plunge is a great way to show school spirit while “Freezin’ for a Reason” for Special Olympic athletes. Although several students were participating for their first time, many stated that can’t wait for next years event.
