Last month, the iJAG students and staff put on their 5th Annual Charity Dodgeball Tournament. 23 teams competed in the high school gymnasium on Saturday, April 7th. The event raised money for the Humane Society and homeless shelters in the community. This year, the tournament raised $2,500.The iJAG students pick a different charity every year to which they donate 40% of the proceeds of the event. The other 60% provides resources for these kids to go on specialized field trips and leadership building opportunities.
The first fundraiser, 5 years ago, was a joint effort with Hayden’s Hope, a charity benefiting a MCHS student, Hayden Despenas, struggling with Friedreich’s Ataxia. Advisor Eva Gutierrez says the kids came up with it because it wasn’t something they had seen done before. “I think 5 years ago, before we started doing it, there was no such thing as a dodgeball tournament around here.” The tournament was very successful that year, and the momentum to do it annually has continued.
The students feel events like this help them connect with the community. Student Kaitlyn Seward says events like this help “get our name as iJAG out in the community” while also providing “support for the community and rewards for us [the students]”. Student Jasmine Freudenberg says that “it is just a fun activity to do and to help out the community.” Student Brooklyn Graff says that events like this help showcase to others that iJAG isn’t “just a class, like English or Spanish. We’re [iJAG students] more like a family”. Gutierrez says that a major reason for this fundraiser, and the focus on community is gratitude. “The main reason we do this is because we have so many community members that support us”. This fundraiser is on top of ‘service learning’, a required amount of volunteer hours students perform each year.
iJAG, which is an Iowa specific program dedicated to “providing the most cost-efficient dropout prevention and school to career solutions”, gives students the opportunity for assistance with their individual journey to graduation. This journey has come to include team building and leadership based trips. The past 2 years, the iJAG students have gone to Fort Dodge to a team building camp. This fundraiser has also allowed iJag to give different incentives, including a trip to Clear Lake’s laser tag space in reward for students passing all of their classes and completing their required ‘service learning hours’. There are some required leadership conferences for the iJAG program, and the money raised is often used to feed the kids who go on those trips, to minimize out-of-pocket expense.
Historically, the fundraiser has reached out to organizations like Team Seth and Team Blair, and had a heavy focus on giving back within MCHS. They plan on doing another dodgeball tournament next year, hopefully with wonderful charities and results!