Serving Up, Spiking For Local Charities

Photo courtesy of Therese Regan
The “Jokes of 2016” took home first place in the volleyball-a-thon after a long day of working their way through the brackets.

By Jano Tantongco
jtantongco@longislandergroup.com

Elwood-John Glenn High School students served and spiked for six hours to raise more than $3,000 for three charitable causes at its annual volleyball-a-thon on Thursday.
The high school’s student council voted this year to split the proceeds to be donated to the Sergeant Paul Tuozzolo Sergeants Benevolent Association for Widows & Children’s Fund for NYC, the Sean Urda Memorial Soccer Scholarship Fund and the American Cancer Society Relay for Life.
The annual event was conceived by the physical education staff more than 30 years ago, coach Lou Hanner said.
“It’s a great event. The kids have a great time,” Hanner said, adding that there were 48 co-ed teams of students from all grades.
Coordinator for the program and science teacher Therese Regan, said students paid $10 to participate, with additional donations made by parents.
She added that about 300 students came to play, each having custom T-shirts made for their teams.
Seniors Ilissa Pipia and Edward Hollreiser were part of the “Property Of” team, featuring their parents’ names on the reverse.
“It’s just something that everyone gets together, and we play for a good cause. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose,” Pipia said.
The students play each of the teams in their divisions throughout the day, which spanned from about 2:40-9:30 p.m. By the end of the day, the winning team was “Jokes of 2016.”
“It’s always been fun no matter what. It’s also fun because we’re such a small school, you know everyone. So it makes it more competitive,” Hollreiser said.
Freshman Andres Mady-Aguiar sat in the cafeteria with his team between matches. He added that Regan, his science teacher, encouraged them to participate.
“It’s a lot of fun. You just play volleyball, talk to your friends, meet new friends,” he said.
His team was dubbed “Net-Flix,” with names of movies on the backside of their shirts. His was “Spike Jam,” a play off “Space Jam.”