During the first quarter of the school year, the SpiriThon committee has been working on spreading awareness and raising money for their event, which will be hosted at the school February 2. SpiriThon is a fundraising program for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC) that ends with a big event to celebrate the money raised.

  “This fun night consists of a knockout basketball competition, a trivia competition, video games, dancing, and dodgeball. The most important part of the night is having a patient and his/her family come speak to us about their experiences with CCMC.” senior Maggie McGuire said. All of the money raised will be contributed to the HuskyThon funds, a similar fundraiser, at the University of Connecticut (UConn). The money raised by HuskyThon and participating schools will be given to CCMC.

  Students have been brainstorming new ways to spread awareness for the cause. These discussions take place at SpiriThon meetings, which are held every other Thursday after school. Recently, students sold homemade baked goods such as muffins, cupcakes, and donuts before classes from October 30 to November 3.  

  “We are currently planning a dodgeball tournament that will take place sometime after Thanksgiving. We will also be canning outside of grocery stores just like we did last year.” sophomore Sophia Giuffria said. Giuffria participated in SpiriThon last year, and raised over $300. This year, she is actively helping to spread awareness in the community to get others involved in this cause.

  As the supervisor of this event, social studies teacher Patrick Mulcahy works to organize fundraising ideas and plan the event alongside the student committee. He chose to coordinate a program like this after participating in the HuskyThon event at UConn.

  “After hosting the first [event] a few years ago, I realized why I actually did it. Nothing can replace the feeling you have as a teacher when you see your students inspired to do good in the world,” Mulcahy said. He encourages students to get involved in order to give back to their community.

“Students should contribute to the cause in order to be part of something bigger. These kids spend countless nights at the hospital wondering if they are even going to live until their next birthday. It is so important for us to take a step back, and help the people in need around us,” Giuffria said.