Over $900 Was Raised for the Yearbook Fund and the College Awareness Program
Oyster Bay High School teacher assistant and yearbook adviser, Charlie Rizzuto, took the initiative to host a fundraising event based on the NBC Television game show, “Minute to Win It,” where contestants compete in a series of challenges using common items usually found in a house. On the show, the contestants have one minute to complete the game or challenge.
Here at Oyster Bay High School, the teams were given three minutes to complete their tasks. Bonus points were awarded to any team that completed it in a minute.
On the show one or two contestants usually compete at a time. At Oyster Bay, most games had three, four or five people playing from each team at a time. The goal being that with 10 teams and 10 people on a team, and only 10 events, everyone was kept involved by playing in most of the games.
All games were taken right from the show for the fundraiser. They were modified for the gymnasium. The money raised is going to the Yearbook fund and the College Awareness Program. Over $900 was raised in the two-hour event. Every cent is going back to the students in some way.
This fundraiser was an idea Mr. Rizzuto brought it up at a yearbook meeting in November. The Yearbook Club members embraced the huge amount of work necessary to put the event together. Mr. Rizzuto has done about six or seven “Minute To Win It” nights at different places before. He believes that this one was by far the best one yet.
A week before the event here at Oyster Bay, Mr. Rizzuto ran a similar event at his church. Co-yearbook advisor Ms. Alex Sordi came to watch and take notes so she would know exactly what needed to be done behind the scenes with the yearbook staff in terms of setting up and cleaning up between games. They did a great job. Mr. Rizzuto noted that “The kids ran this event smoother than any event I have ever done of this kind. I was very impressed with both Ms. Sordi and the kids.”
The Oyster Bay High School Girls Varsity Basketball Team had a team. The Varsity Track Team had a team. There were two teacher teams. The
rest of the teams where made up of students from grades 7 through 12.
There was a friendly rivalry between the two teacher teams because Mr. Nicholas Ramirez was originally supposed to be on Mr. John Cipriano’s team. However, at the last minute Mr. Ramirez jumped to Ms. Andrea Larusso’s team.
Events ranged from, long snapping toilet paper through a Hula Hoop, picking up cotton balls with a Vaseline coated nose, bouncing ping pong balls into a bucket on a team members head, scooting around the gym sitting on a towel, placing a cookie on your forehead and eating it without touching it with your hands, shooting rubber bands at targets and
bouncing a ping pong ball off of the floor and getting it to stick to a piece of bread coated with Vaseline.
In the end there was a legitimate tie for first place between one student team (The Nincom Poops) and one teacher/student team (Status Quo).
Raising close to a thousand dollars in two hours is a remarkable feat and will go a long way, literally, to send students out on the road to visiting colleges.
Mr. Rizzuto summed up the evening by saying, “I have done many ‘Minute To Win It’ nights before. This one was by far the best one I have ever done. The yearbook staff along with Ms. Sordi ran all of the behind the scenes activities better than I could have ever hoped. The kids donated a lot more than just the two hours in the gym to make this night work. Even with mid-terms right around the corner, they took ownership of the fundraiser and made sure it was a success. They are amazing.
“The day after the event, teachers and students where buzzing about it aside from just raising money, which is really what you want. It is great to hold an event that brings the school closer together in a positive fun way. I want to thank everyone that came down to either play or watch, the gym was energetic all night long.
“Special thanks to Mr. Keis and Dr. O’Hara for supporting the event and helping to make sure we had everything we needed to get it done. Also I would like to thank Mr. Imperiale and Dr. Harrington for their support,” said Mr. Rizzuto.
