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Politics & Government

Challenge Day Successes, Fundraisers Discussed at Municipal Alliance Meeting

Members of Manchester Township High School community discuss fundraisers, Challenge Day impact

A group of students and an administrator from attended Tuesday night’s meeting of the town’s Municipal Alliance, both providing fundraising ideas and explaining how recent Alliance-sponsored events have benefited the school.

Coordinator Marianne Borthwick explained to the gathered students the importance of selling tickets to the annual raffle – for which the entirety of the proceeds go to fund Project Graduation, an organized and adult-supervised night of activities for graduating seniors that is held in lieu of off-campus house parties where drug and alcohol use may be present.

“Those who sell the most tickets are eligible to win a prize that we buy, and it’s something that helps get the Alliance’s name out there,” Borthwick said.

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Borthwick added that traditionally, tickets were sold at the annual high school play, and at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Whiting. The play will be staged on Friday, March 2 at 7 p.m., and Saturday, March 3 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Sign-ups for Project Graduation will begin at the 100 Nights dinner event on March 15, Borthwick said.

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In addition, for selling the raffle tickets and assisting in the Alliance’s sponsored activities, the organization is offering credit to students towards three scholarships they will award at the end of the school year.

MTHS student Arty Melendez suggested that he could speak with the advisor of the school’s Talent Show to see if the raffle tickets could be sold there, as the show takes place on Friday, Feb. 24.

Borthwick provided that another way to raise money for Project Graduation is a T-Shirt contest, where designs will be submitted and voted on. The winning designer will receive a $50 cash prize, and have the honor of seeing their design worn by their classmates on the commemorative Project Graduation T-Shirts this year.

“Students will have the chance to vote on the winning design, and it’s a nice keepsake,” Borthwick said.

Other students suggested ideas such as a Dippin’ Dots ice cream maker or a photo booth, but were told that such ideas are dependent on whether they can fit within the Municipal Alliance’s budget.

“We’ll look into all your ideas,” Borthwick said to the students in attendance.

MTHS Vice-Principal Evelyn Swift thanked the Municipal Alliance for their support of the recent , held at the school building. The purpose of the Monday, Jan. 9 program was to help bring to light the difficult issues in high school communities, such as cliques, gossip, rumors, negative judgments, and the like.

Student Briana Swift called the day “moving” and “a great experience” for her.

“A lot of times, you don’t get to know your peers as much as you should. It was touching and moving to see that we go through a lot of the same situations,” Swift said.

The student added that she could sense a change in the mood of the school halls since the Challenge Day program, in that her fellow classmates are more apt to think before they speak and have the courage to separate themselves from cliques if they have different feelings than that of the larger group.

“I think they’ve gotten the big picture, and this is a good program to keep going,” Swift added.

Classmate Devin Beckwith added that the most poignant part of the day for her was to see that teachers had confronted the same issues that she and her fellow students did in high school.

Vice-Principal Swift called the day “very successful,” and said that though the day was expensive, it was worth the dividends that have resulted from it.

“We’ve gotten positive feedback from both teachers and students, and we see each other differently now than we did before. We would like to do it twice next school year, if possible,” she said.

Another fundraiser discussed by the Alliance was one for Regional Day School, one which would collect money for their graduation and prom ceremonies. In the spirit of annual ocean “polar plunges,” this event would be titled the “Penguin Plunge” and take place in Harry Wright Lake instead.

“We’d like to have it on April 11,” said Borthwick. “It’s definitely a fun day. Once we get it OK’ed, we’ll see if we can get student volunteer help and participation for that.”

In other news, the Alliance wanted to make mention of a “Comedy Night” fundraiser being held by the Manchester Township Booster Club on Feb. 10 at 7 p.m., at the Triboro First Aid Squad, located on “J” Street in Seaside Park. Featuring comedy by Rich Meyer, the event is BYOB and your own food. Tickets are $20 per person, and can be obtained by contacting Mike Leppert at 732-684-4347 or mikeleppert@aol.com, Pat Barry at 732-904-0795 or barpal625@aol.com, or Keith Lister at 732-657-8901 or klister@manchestertwp.org.

The group's next regular meeting will be held on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in the civic center of the township's . Meetings are normally held on the last Tuesday of each month. Those interested in joining the Alliance can contact Borthwick at 732-657-8121, ext. 3901.

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