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NY Farm Bureau are seeking scholarship applicants

By Press Release

Press Release:

New York high school seniors who are graduating and interested in pursuing a career in agriculture can apply for New York Farm Bureau’s Agricultural Youth Scholarship. Eligible students can use the financial award for college or advanced training in the skilled trades. Statewide winners can earn up to $3,000 towards their future education.

The applicant or their family must be a New York Farm Bureau member, and the student must live and/or work a farm or be involved with agriculture in the state. The student must also complete the application which includes writing an essay addressing what they value and stand for in agriculture and life and how these values have impacted their decision to pursue an agricultural career.

Scoring will determine both county and district winners and may include a personal interview.  Each district winner will receive $250 and then compete for one of two state scholarships worth $3,000 and $2,000, based on their submitted applications. Applications must be submitted by March 1, 2022, and the judging will take place prior to April 20, 2022.  

For more information, including the online application, go to New York Farm Bureau’s website at www.nyfb.org. The scholarship information and web-based application can be found under “Promotion and Education” in the programs section of the website. You can also call the New York Farm Bureau office at 1-800-342-4143 for more information.

Batavia/Alexander at Pembroke Varsity Soccer

By Rick D. Franclemont

In last night's contest Pembroke and Batavia/Alexander both scored early in the first half. The rest of the game was all Pembroke. They scored four more goals in the half, and in the second half, down a man, scored another. Batavia/Alexander managed two more quick goals near the end of the second half, but it was not enough. Final Pembroke, 6 -- Batavia/Alexander, 3.

http://francletography.photoshelter.com/gallery/2015-09-14-Batavia-Alexander-at-Pembroke-Varsity-Boys/G0000w5Ti4ho_l8s/C0000o8qnIUWIJ3w

Batavia Blue Devils steal sectional win from Aquinas

By Steve Ognibene

Senior Nick Bauer celebrating with his teammates after scoring the third run for the Batavia Blue Devils as they defeated Aquinas last night at Dwyer Stadium 4-0 to advance to the next round of the Section V playoffs. The first three innings left both teams scoreless on the opening night of the championship rounds.

Junior Greg Mruczek pitched the first five innings and recorded four strikeouts and allowing two hits.  

In the fourth inning, sophomore Jerry Reinhart walked and advanced on a double steal scored for the Devils. Senior Pat Wrobel drove in the run with to put the Devils up 2-0 after 4.

In the fifth inning Nick Bauer hit a single then stole second and third. When he crossed the plate, Batavia had their third run. Junior Alex Canty (pictured above stealing second) hit a single, stole two bases and scored on a sack fly from Junior Tyler Hale to extend the lead and eventually the final score 4-0.

Relieving pitcher Senior Quintin Weis finished the last two innings with three strikeouts and one hit. Batavia Blue Devils record is 12-8 and will play thier next secional game this Friday at Greece Athena.

For more Photos go to: https://www.facebook.com/SteveOgnibenePhotography

Photos: Tech Wars 2014 at GCC

By Steve Ognibene

Students from throughout the GLOW region gathered at Genesee Community College yesterday for the annual Tech Wars, where students compete in matches of design and engineering skill.

“This is the seventh year since the inception of the Tech Wars that started in 2008 with only 138 kids,” said Bob Hollwedel, an event coordinator.

This year, there were 17 schools and more than 650 middle and high school school student who participated. 

The top schools overall were: 1st Place -- Alexander; 2nd Place -- Dansville; 3rd Place -- Oakfield. Photos below from a couple of the 17 events today.

Co2 Cars

Catapult - Batavia Middle School Team

Robot Tractor Pull

Trebechet - Alexander High School team

Sumo Robots - submitted by high school students

Irish Run Well at McQuaid

By Eric Geitner

 

The Notre Dame XC team participated in the 49th annual McQuaid Invitational on Saturday.  The meet featured over 7,000 runners from over 245 schools representing 5 states and Canada. The modified boys led the day off with Tyler Fuller finishing 166th with 12:13 and Trevor Nellis 176th in 12:18.  Chris Neal placed 254th in 14:34.

 
The varsity boys then took to the 3 mile course with Dylan Fix breaking out to finish 69th for the Irish in 18:03.  Ryan Fuller placed 115th with 18:47, Justin Carlson 168th in 19:41, one shoe wonder Dennis Bleier 194th in 20:05 and rounding out the scoring was Bryan Moscicki in 217th with a 20:36.  The Irish placed 30th in the 42 team field.  Caleb Nellis placed 255th with a huge PR of 21:40 and Ryan Shormann placed 304th with a big PR of 24:53.
 
The girls team placed 16th in the 26 team 'seeded' race.  Laurie Call led the Irish placing 26th with the second fastest ever ND time of 19:12 and Anna Warner ran the third ever fastest ND time of 19:30 and placed 33rd.  New faces represented the third and fourth runners as Serena Strollo-DiCenso and Isabelle Bliss had an amazing race to place 112th and 113th respectively with times of 21:38 and 21:39.  Shelby McGinnis rounded the scoring out for the Irish with her 129th finish of 22:07.  Abby Bleier placed 142nd with 22:27, Emily McCracken 161st with 23:21, Rose Flumerfeldt 183rd with 24:43 and Emily Sherman 202nd with 27:23.
 
The Irish are next in action on Tuesday against Holley, Keshequa, and Geneseo at Holley's Canal Park.
Modified runners Chris Neal, Tyler Fuller and Trevor Nellis
 
Dylan Fix leading the Irish
 
Laurie Call nearing the 2-mile mark
 

Alexander powder puff football returns

By Rick Franclemont

For the first time in a reported 20 years, powder puff football has returned to Alexander High School.

The Freshmen (red) took on the Juniors (pink) in the first game. Freshmen came out ahead 22 to 6.

The second game featured the Seniors (white) and the Sophmores (purple). The Sophmores took the game 14 to 0.

In the championship game the Sophmores eked out a win against the Freshmen 6 to 0.

Homecoming parade starts at 6 p.m. Friday, with Alexander Varsity football team hosting Attica at 7 p.m.

Pictured above: Kaylee MacIntyre, Alexa Merle, Marissa Scharlau.

Pictured above: Hanna Barnaby kicking off.

More after the jump (click on the headline):

Pictured above: Olivia George, Alex Holderer, and Francesca.

Pictured above: Olivia George and Alex Holderer.

Pictured above: The Junior team.

Pictured above: The Freshmen team.

Pictured above: Karli Phillips, Stephanie McBride.

Pictured above: Sophmore team.

Pictured above: Seniors!

Pictured above: Ryan Dunbar as the Trojan (acting as Freshmen mascot) being chased by Ricky Amico (as the Sophmore mascot)

Pictured above: Senior Coach Zach Laird.

Pictured above: Lydia Spiotta.

For more pictures of the game and festivities please visit:  Francletography Powder Puff Game

Irish Harriers run well in West Seneca

By Eric Geitner

The Notre Dame Cross Country Team traveled to Buffalo to participate in the West Seneca Invitational at Sunshine Recreational Park on Saturday. 

The Notre Dame Girls Team prior to racing

 

The lady Irish finished in 6th place in the small school division with 137 points.  Laurie Call ran the 3.1 mile course in 20:25 to place 6th with teammate Anna Warner in 10th place with 20:34.  Emily McCracken placed 40th (23:06), Shelby McGinnis 43rd (23:33) and Abby Bleier 52nd (24:01) to score for the Irish.  Also in the race was Emily Sherman placing 80th and Rose Flumerfeldt 90th.

Anna Warner and Laurie Call at the start

Emily McCracken, Abby Bleier and Emily Sherman

Shelby McGinnis

Rose Flumerfeldt on her way to the finish

Anna Warner and Laurie Call with their top ten medals

 

The Irish also had representation in the Freshman/Sophomore race with Serena Strollo-DiCenso placing 16th in 24:20 and classmate Isabelle Bliss in 17th with 24:21.

Serena Strollo-DiCenso and Isabelle Bliss

The boys finished in 11th place in the small school race behind the tight 4-pack of Ryan Fuller in 56th (19:50), Justin Carlson in 59th (20:02), Dylan Fix in 61st (20:03) and Dennis Bleier in 66th (20:17).  Bryan Moscicki closed the gap to finish 97th in 22:01.  Caleb Nellis (24:30) and Ryan Shormann (28:30) also represented the Irish.

Justin Carlson and Ryan Fuller at the start

Dylan Fix and Dennis Bleier

Brian Moscicki

Ryan Shormann

Caleb Nellis

 

Irish Open Regular Season with 3 Wins

By Eric Geitner
    Anna Warner of ND -- photo by David Warner
 
The Notre Dame boy's and girl's Cross Country teams opened up their season going 3 -1, beating Byron Bergen, Mount Morris, and Cal-Mum.  Big school Wayland-Cohocton were able to knock off the Irish. 
 
Anna Warner led the girls finishing 2nd in the race with Laurie Call in third.  Emily McCracken finished 9th, Shelby McGinnis 13th, Abby Bleier 15th, Serena Strollo-DiCenso 16th, Isabelle Bliss 18th, Emily Sherman 24th and Rose Flumerfeldt 29th. Byron Bergen was led by 5th place finisher Kim Lovett and 10th place finisher Charlene Clay.  Byron Bergen beat Mt. Morris and Cal-Mum. 
 
The Notre Dame boy's team was able to place 3 in the top ten with Ryan Fuller leading the way in 5th place, Dylan Fix 7th, and Dennis Bleier 8th.  Justin Carlson placed 11th, Bryan Moscicki 18th, Caleb Nellis 31st and Ryan Shormann 34th.  Byron Bergen finished 2nd and third in the race from the efforts of Robbie Schrenker and Sean Donovan respectively.  The Byron Bergen boys beat Mt. Morris.  Cal-mum's Everett Gieger easily won the race in 17:54, 2:15 faster than 2nd place.
 
Next up for the Irish is the West Seneca Invitational at Sunshine Park on Saturday.

 

ND Harriers Open up 2013 Season

By Eric Geitner

The Notre Dame Cross Country Team opened up its 2013 season at the 4th annual Dash-in-the-Dark 2 mile relay at Oakfield High School.  The race consists of a 3 person relay, with each leg completing 2 laps of a one mile course....under the lights!!!!!

 

The girls relay of Laurie Call, Emily McCracken, and Anna Warner finished 3rd among the small schools.  Laurie Call had the 2nd fastest time among the 16 competing small schools and ove 60 runners, running 12:29.40 and Anna Warner was the 5th fastest running 12:49.18.  Emily ran 13:58.42.  The 'B' relay of Shelby McGinnis (14:27.26), Emily Sherman (15:43.59) and Serena Strollo-DiCenso(15:14.15) finished in 12th.  Abby Bleier (14:56.34) and Rose Flumerfeldt (16:12.73) also represented the Irish.

 

The boys team split up to have a little inter-team competition, with the relay squad of Ryan Fuller (12:12.95), Dennis Bleier (12:44.22), and Bryan Moscicki (14:02.83) taking 12th place among the small school and the relay of Jusitn Carlson (12:17.17), Dylan Fix (12:36.85), and Caleb Nellis (16:10.98) finishing 22nd.  Ryan Shormann also completed his first XC race covering the 2 mile in 16:30.

 

The Irish open up their regular season Tuesday at Genesee County Park Course 2 at Area A off Raymond Road.

Repeat sweet for Antolos

By Eric Geitner

It was a sweet repeat for Notre Dame Senior Jeffrey Antolos at the New York State Cross-country Championships at Elma Meadows. Jeffrey won the Class C race to become only the 5th Section V cross-country runner in history to ever win more than one XC State Title.

Jeff's time of 15:41 beat out second place by 26 seconds and was the 7th fastest time of the day. Jeff will next compete at the NXN Northeast National Qualifier on November 24 at Bowdoin Park in Wappinger Falls.

The girls' team made ND history by placing 4th in Class D to become the best placing XC state team in ND's history. The Irish were led by 9th-place finisher Laurie Call who covered the course at Elma Meadows in 19:42. Anna Warner's third state meet garnered her a 20th place finish with her time of 20:09. Emily McCracken wasn't too far behind in taking 29th place with her time of 20:35.

Shelby McGinnis rose up to run her best race of the year with her time of 21:38, good for 54th place. Rose Flumerfeldt was again ND's 5th girl, running 24:33 and placing 93rd, with Madison Gluck closing out her high school cross-country career with a time of 25:28 and a 99th-place finish, while Emily Sherman took advantage of the day to run 26:16 good for 105th place.

Congratulations to all the runners and their parents on a great 2012 cross-country season, one of the best in NDXC history!

Photos by Bare Antolos.

Irish Dominate Division III Cross Country

By Eric Geitner

The Notre Dame Cross Country Teams raced in the GRAA/LCAA Cross Country Championships at Leroy High School with some strong performances in the unseasonably warm weather.

 

In the girls race, Anna Warner claimed the Division III individual title, covering the soggy course in 19:57. Laurie Call placed 3rd in the division with 20:20 and Shelby McGinnis took 9th in the division with 21:41. Emily McCracken placed 11th with 21:33. Madison Gluck ran 24:52, Rose Flumerfeldt 25:14, and Emily Sherman 26:09.

 

In the boys' race, Jeff Antolos took the D III individual title running 16:02, with Arron Carlson placing 4th in the division at 17:50. Justin Carlson place 12th in 18:47, Dennis Bleier ran 19:11, Ryan Fuller 19:52, Alec Covel 20:07, and Bryan Mosicki 21:21.

 

Selected Genesee Region All-Stars included Anna Warner, Laurie Call, Emily McCracken, Jeffrey Antolos, and Arron Carlson. Shelby McGinnis and Justin Carlson were honorable mention.

 

The team will next compete at the Section V Championships at Genesee Community College on November 3rd. Boys will race at 11:00 and the girls at 11:30.

Notre Dame Harriers Sweep; Girls Clinch Title

By Eric Geitner

It was a great fall day to be out at Genesee County Park for the final regular season meet for the Notre Dame Cross Country Teams. Both the boys and girls swept Alexander, Attica, Pembroke and Pavilion on 'Senior Night.' With the wins, the girls team clinched the Division III GR/LCAA title, last accomplished in 2002. Laurie Call was the race winner in 19:54 and Anna Warner was second with 20:05. Emily McCracken was fourth in 20:32, Shelby McGinnis placed 8th in 21:12 and Rose Flumerfeldt rounded out the scoring in 19th with 23:32. The rest of the Irish pack took 20th through 22nd with Hannah Pingrey (23:57), Madison Gluck (24:18) and Emily Sherman (24:36).


In the boys meet, Jeff Antolos added another course record to his name running a 15:28 to smash the old record of 16:08. Arron Carlson took 4th with 17:14, Justin Carlson 5th in 18:01 and Dennis Bleier sprinted past Alec Covel in 18:42 to take 10th and 11th respectively. Ryan Fuller placed 13th in 19:08 and Bryan Moscicki placed 23rd (21:24).


The Irish will next be in action at the GRLCAA Championships (Counties) on Thursday, October 25 at Leroy High School, with the first race going off at 4:30.

Irish Cross Country Teams Finish 2 and 3

By Eric Geitner

The Notre Dame Girls Cross Country team captured second place at the Dragon Invitational at Pembroke Town Park. The ladies were led by third place finisher Laurie Call in 20:04 followed by Anna Warner in 4th place in 20:14. Shelby McGinnis moved up to the third Irish spot with her 12th place finish in 21:28. Emily McCracken placed 19th in 22:25 and Rose Flumerfeldt rounded out scoring in taking 32nd (24:02). Hannah Pingrey was 34th (24:15), Madison Gluck 35th (24:19), and Emily Sherman 39th (25:14).


The Boy's team placed third in the invite with Jeffrey Antolos smashing the course record and winning the race by 1 1/2 minutes in 15:38. Arron Carlson rebounded from Tuesday's ambulance visit to place 3rd in 17:32. Justin Carlson placed 17th in 19:00, Dennis Bleier moved up the ranks to place 20th in 19:24, Alec Covel 22nd in 19:44, Ryan Fuller 26th in 20:01 and Bryan Moscicki 33rd in 20:51.


The Irish are in action on Tuesday at Genesee County Park Course 1 at 5:00 and will recognize the senior runners in their final league meet.

Irish Girl Harriers Sweep

By Eric Geitner

The Notre Dame girl’s cross country team took all four races yesterday at Byron Bergen High School to improve to 15 – 2. The Lady Irish dominated Leroy, Dansville, and Lima Christian and got by Byron Bergen by one point, 28-29. Shelby McGinnis was the deciding factor in the girl’s race with her 9th place overall finish in 21:36. Anna Warner broke away in the last mile to comfortably win the race in 20:32, with teammate Laurie Call taking second in 20:55. Emily McCracken placed 6th with 21:18 to help the Irish to the victory. Other ND finishers included Rose Flumerfeldt in 24:00 to take 15th place, Hannah Pingrey 24:03 to take 16th place, Madison Gluck 25:19 to place 21st and Emily Sherman 25:40 to place 23rd.

 

In the boy’s race, the Irish were victorious over Leroy, Lima Christian and Byron Bergen, but fell to undefeated Dansville to move to 12 - 5 on the season. Jeff Antolos won the race by almost two minutes, running 16:16. Justin Carlson picked up 7th place in 18:49, with Alec Covel taking 13th in 19:31 and Ryan Fuller and Dennis Bleier placing 18th and 19th with 19:41 and 19:42. Arron Carlson finished the race in 23rd after having an allergic reaction to Byron Bergen in the first mile and Bryan Moscicki placed 35th in 22:26.

Irish Girl's Cruise to Easy Wins

By Eric Geitner

The girl's Notre Dame cross country team had an easy time last night at Avon High School. The Irish swept the field of Avon, Mount Morris, Hornell, and Kendall. Shelby McGinnis led the Irish attack on the first loop of the course to set up her 6th place finish over the final stretch. Laurie Call and Anna Warner broke away from Shelby to finish 2nd and 3rd in the race. Madison Gluck and Rose Flumerfeldt finished 8th and 9th respectively to round out the scoring. Hannah Pingrey placed 12th and Emily Sherman recovered from an early fall in the race to finish 17th. The girls are now 11 - 2 on the season.

 

The boy's team fell to Kendall by one point without their #3 guy. Ryan Fuller, Alec Covel and Dennis Bleier stepped up with big races to give the Irish 3 of 4 wins with their 12th, 13th, 14th place finish. Arron Carlson ran a season best 5K time in taking third, while Jeff Antolos cruised to an easy victory, breaking the course record by 45 seconds. The boys are now 9 - 4.

Antolos Shines at McQuaid

By Eric Geitner
The Notre Dame XC teams had great showings on Saturday at the McQuaid Invitational at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester. It was a great day for Jeffrey Antolos as he led his team in the seeded race, finishing a close second in 14:55 which tied for the fastest time by a Section V runner. It is the first time a Notre Dame runner has broken the 15:00 barrier over a 3 mile course. Arron Carlson ran a strong race in 17:47 to place 47th. Alec Covel placed 133rd (18:21), Ryan Fuller 156th (18:59), Dennis Bleier 165th (19:23) and Bryan Mosicki 179th (20:37). The team finished in 20th place in the 28 team field. The girls team finished in 14th place in the elite seeded race. Laurie Call led the Irish running 19:31 to place 39th with Anna Warner close behind in 19:36 and 42nd place. Emily McCracken was the next to cross the line in 20:11 and 65th place. Shelby McGinnis finished 108th (21:06), Rose Flumerfeldt 160th (23:12), Madison Gluck 165th (23:23), Hannah Pingrey 177th (24:04), and Emily Sherman 189th (25:03).

ND Cross Country Teams Take 3

By Eric Geitner
Both the boy's and girl's cross country teams grabbed three of four at Oatka Park tonight. The teams triumphed over Holley, Cal-Mum and Geneseo, but fell to Way-Co. Jeff Antolos was again untouchable winning by his usual minute over second place with a 16:14. Arron Carlson placed 7th in the race in 18:00 and brother Justin was 10th in 18:41. Ryan Fuller ran to place 20th (20:00), Alec Covel was 23rd (21:03), Dennis Bleier 25th (21:32) and Bryan Mosicki 32nd (23:00). In the girl's race Emily McCracken paced the Irish placing 4th in 20:52, with Laurie Call 5th in 21:10 and Anna Warner 7th with 21:17. Shelby McGinnis placed 12th (22:59), Madison Gluck was 19th (24:43), Rose Flumerfeldt placed 21st (26:25), Hannah Pingrey was 25th (26:45) and Emily Sherman was 28th (27:21).

Notre Dame Races Well at East Aurora

By Eric Geitner
The Notre Dame Cross Country Girls team ran to a 4th place finish at the East Aurora Invitational on Saturday. Junior Laurie Call led the Irish over the 3 mile course with a 5th place finish of 19:23 and Sophomore Anna Warner grabbed 10th with 19:50. Fellow Sophomore Eily McCracken placed 18th with 20:10, Freshman Shelby McGinnis 45th with 21:32 and Sophomore Rose Flumerfeldt rounded out the top five placing 66th in 23:16. Freshman Emily Sherman placed 78th with 25:19. The boy's team captured 7th place, just 9 points out of 4th. Senior Jeff Antolos ran away with the race with 15:24, a full minute ahead of the second place finisher and the second fastest time of the day. Fellow Senior Arron Carlson placed 10th with 17:04. Sophomore Justin Carlson was 35th in 18:04, Junior Alec Covel was 61st in 18:51 with Juinor Ryan Fuller close behind in 18:59 to place 64th. Freshman Bryan Moscikci and Sophomore Dennis Bleier battled it out at the finish to place 97th and 98th respectively with 21:13. Next up on Tuesday are key match-ups with Way-Co, Geneseo, Holley, and Cal-Mum at Oatka Park.

Irish Girl Harriers run Well

By Eric Geitner

The Notre Dame Girl's Cross Country team raised their record to 4 -1 Tuesday evening at Livonia High School beating Oakfield, Bath-Haverling and Wheatland-Chili while dropping to host Livonia. Emily McCracken, Anna Warner, and Laurie Call finished 3 - 4 - 5 in the race with Shelby McGinnis placing 17th. Madison Gluck was the deciding factor in the score with Oakfield with her 25th place finish. ND now leads Division III.

The boy's had a rough night falling to Wheatland-Chili and Livonia, but were able to get by Oakfield and Bath-Haverling. Jeff Antolos easily won the race by well over a minute. Arron Carlson finished 5th. The boy's are now 3 - 2 on the season and second in Division III.

The teams are in action this Saturday at the East Aurora Invitation at 10:00am

Genesee County youth aim to rake in change for makin' change

By Daniel Crofts

Everybody likes a little friendly competition, right? And if it's for a good cause, all the better!

These guys definitely feel that way:

Half of them are pictured above...

...and here's the other half!

High schoolers from all over Genesee County are getting involved in "Change for Change" (C4C), a fundraising project for United Way of Genesee County. Student government reps from Batavia High School, the NYS State School for the Blind, Oakfield-Alabama High School and Pavillion Central School gathered in the BHS auditorium Yesterday to kick-start the project. 

From Mar. 8-26, the schools will compete to raise as much money as they can and deposit their funds in an account with the Tonawanda Valley Federal Credit Union (set up for United Way, with a sub-account for each school) every Friday.

BHS government members welcomed their fellow students and gave them the lay of the land (contest rules and stakes, etc.) at Thursday's meeting...

...starting with an icebreaker from treasurer Amanda Jones, who asked representatives of each school to come up with and share a few "fun facts" about their school.

Some interesting ones to consider:

1. O-A HS recently organized a lunch boycott

2. Pavilion is one of the few schools in the state with a pillow tournament

3. The Blind School has a heated pool with a moving floor

4. BHS has the best cookies in the state, inarguably, of course

 

Handling introductions was co-mayor C.J. Shultz, who introduced his fellow officers and their faculty advisors/helpers as follows:

"There's [mayor] Matt Hoye, who has nothing better to do than keep his beautiful red hair perfectly groomed.

"And next to him is Sahil Jain, our representative to the board of education -- which basically means he makes sure the students' voices are heard at board
meetings. But then he doesn’t get to vote for anything, so it doesn't really matter.

"Then we have the wonderful Amanda Jones, who is our treasurer. We have to trust her with our money. She ran unopposed, so we really didn't have a choice.

"Erica Bucci is our secretary, who takes great notes...when she's
there.

"In the audience is [BHS special education teacher] Mrs. Gammack, who is a great student advisor. Nobody else really wanted the job, so...

"And finally, there's Mrs. Johnson, who is the best statistics teacher at Batavia High…actually, she's the only statistics teacher at Batavia High."

Shultz and Hoye were the brains behind the whole operation, according to Gammack and the other student officers.

"They came to me with this idea in August," Gammack said. "And I thought it sounded great."

The project was inspired by 98 PXY's Penny Challenge, in which BHS students competed (and won!) two years ago. They raised $8,000 in pennies by doing "some crazy things" [crazy in a good way, of course], says UW Campaign Associate Christine Fix.

"We saw the school come together in a way that surpassed any kind of sporting event, school activity, etc.," Hoye said. "We felt that another fundraiser could produce a similar effect, continuing to blur the lines between grade levels and uniting the school as a single body."

"I remember how close our school became during the Penny Challenge," Jones said, "and I really wanted to start that kind of excitement within our school again, with a new group of kids."

During the Penny Challenge, the students saw how powerful a tool competition can be when raising money. This time, they decided to expand the range to include their peers throughout the county.

"I think this is a great way to encourage healthy competition and interaction between our schools," Jones said, "especially since Batavia doesn't participate with the smaller schools in sports very much, since we're in the Monroe County League."

There is another major difference from the 98 PXY fundraiser: this time, they are keeping it local.

"Even though we raised a lot of money [for the Penny Challenge], the proceeds went mostly to agencies in Rochester," Hoye said. "Although we are very proud of our efforts and the money we raised, we would like to see our money used within our own communities in Genesee County."

Representatives from area organizations that will benefit from this fundraiser came to the meeting to express their gratitude and to show the kids how much of a difference they will be making.

UW Regional Manager Lori Stupp pointed out that UW will "fall short of [its] goal this year" in terms of fundraising.

"What you guys are doing is going to help us recuperate some of that loss," she added.

Patricia Kurtz of the Salvation Army -- which receives $57,000 a year from UW -- took a moment to thank the high schoolers for "stepping up to represent [their] schools and to raise money for our community."

"Know how important what you're doing is to us," she added. "I hope this goes to show that when we are united, we are strong, and we can change the world together."

YMCA Regional Director Erik Fix called the C4C fundraising project "a phenomenal thing that speaks volumes about the students in our communities."

"It feels like we're a part of history at BHS," education board rep Jain said. "I feel like the fundraiser will only get bigger and better in the years to come, and to be among the people who started it is an incredible thing."

Students of each school were encouraged to be creative with their fundraisers, which could be anything ranging from competitions between the grades to placing cans at community businesses.

Shultz concluded the meeting on a mobilizing note. First, he quoted Gandhi's famous statement: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Second, he said: "Now get out there and raise as much money as you can. Booyah!"

Stay tuned to The Batavian for updates on C4C's progress, which will be submitted on a weekly basis once the project officially gets started.

 

Additional Note:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (pictured) and Legislator Jay Grasso came to talk to the students about the importance of civic responsibility and why Genesee County is a great place to live in, thereby encouraging them in their efforts.

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