Students in Cazenovia High School sports and entertainment marketing classes last week raised nearly $300 for local families through a class-created district-wide dodgeball tournament, held on Oct. 25.
The tournament pitted 13 teams against each other — teams of district administrators, staff, teachers, students and athletic team members — with the winning team walking out with a trophy.
CHS sports marketing students have been holding badminton fundraising tournaments for the past decade, but this year they sent a survey around the high school and students chose to make it a dodgeball tournament this year instead.
Students in grades 9 to 12 spent about two weeks doing all of the planning, sales, marketing, publicity and budgeting for the event, allowing them to learn event planning in a real-life platform, said business teacher Christina New, who teaches all eight business classes in the high school.
“The dodgeball tournament was a great opportunity for students to learn the fundamentals of marketing and event planning. As a result, the SEM team (sports and entertainment marketing) was able to put together a great event for the community,” said senior R.J. Smith. “As a photographer for this event, I was able to capture several surreal moments which will be very fun to look back on.”
Admission to the tournament was $2. There were also raffle items, a concession stand and student-designed T-shirts for sale for $10. Profits from the event were split between CazCares and the family of retired district custodian Jack Baker, whose son recently had a double lung transplant.
“It’s just a nice thing to involve everybody in the district,” said New. “We were overwhelmed by the support of the administration, faculty and staff; we are part of such a great community.”
