By Lauren Zazzara
Features Editor
It’s not winter yet, but the St. Bonaventure campus will be freezing on Sept. 25.
The women’s swimming and diving team will host a Polar Spray to raise money for Special Olympics New York athletes.
The Allegany Volunteer Fire Company will be on campus to spray registered participants with a fire hose, said Ben Collins, a junior finance major and an organizer for the event. His father is the director of sports training for Special Olympics New York.
Collins said students can register for the event at www.PolarPlungeNY.org/Buffalo by selecting “Join a Team” and selecting SBU Polar Spray. This allows students to accept donations, and whoever raises $20 will get a Polar Spray T-shirt.
“This is the first year that we are doing the Polar Spray; however, St. Bonaventure has been involved with the Buffalo Polar Plunge for many years,” Collins said.
During The Polar Plunge event, participants jump into a body of water during the winter to raise money for Special Olympics, as participants take donations.
Dr. Paula Scraba, O.S.F., an associate professor of physical education and an organizer for the event, said that Erica Raepple from Special Olympics New York brought up the idea to have a smaller version of the Polar Plunge at St. Bonaventure, so students wouldn’t have to make the trip to Buffalo.
“We were looking at dates, and we thought that doing it as the beginning of Family Weekend because it’s open to the public,” Scraba said.
Scraba also said Angela Mest, a special education teacher in the Olean City School District, is bringing a group of student athletes (with and without disabilities) and their families to participate in the Polar Spray.
“Ben Collins is still going to get a group to do the actual plunge in December, so the money we raise from the Polar Spray will go towards SBU’s Polar Plunge team that will do the plunge in December,” Scraba said. “So that will increase their donation to the cause.”
Collins said he has been involved in Special Olympics since he was young.
“In high school, my friends and I would do the Lake George Polar Plunge together. We absolutely loved it,” Collins said. “Last year, I went with a St. Bonaventure team to the Buffalo Polar Plunge. I had never seen a Polar Plunge quite like the Buffalo one. It reminded me of a tailgate for a Bills game.”
Scraba said that she is talking to residence assistants and residence directors to ask them to get students into teams to compete against each other to raise the most money.
“I put out there that whichever team raises the most money and/or has the most participants will get a pizza party, so I figured that’d be a little incentive,” Scraba said.
She added that the Allegany Volunteer Fire Company and Bonaventure’s security team are working together to help with the event.
“Being Bonagany weekend, it’s another example of how we work together for a good cause,” Scraba said.
Besides registering online, participants must also register for the event at the outdoor basketball courts between The Sandra A. and William L. Richter Center and the Reilly Center between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., with the event starting at 5 p.m.
Scraba said that the precursor to the Polar Spray will be a soccer clinic to be held on Thursday, Sept. 24 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. hosted by the Bonaventure women’s soccer team. Athletes with and without disabilities from the Allegany-Limestone Central School District will be able to attend and be on teams together. This event is open to all Bonaventure students.
Collins said Special Olympics events are worth participating in.
“Special Olympics competitions go far beyond the surface. Studies have shown that athletes who compete in Special Olympics are five times more likely to get and hold a job independently than their peers who don’t participate,” Collins said. “So please join the St. Bonaventure Polar Plunge team; I promise you we will have fun making a difference together.”
zazzarlm13@bonaventure.edu
