The crowd of students roared their approval as teacher after teacher got a bucket of ice water poured over their head Friday afternoon, as 33 staff members at Cole Middle School took part in the now-famous ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. The cheers reached a crescendo at the end, when first School Resource Officer Burt Montalban was doused, then he turned and did the same to Principal Alexis Meyer.
Math teacher Donna Militello saw her first ice bucket challenge while vacationing in Lake Tahoe in July. She immediately wanted to bring it back to Cole.
With help from physical education teacher Deb McMullen, science teacher Kelly Smith and others, a plan took shape. Staff members were invited to participate, buckets were put in each classroom for donations to the ALS Association and students were encouraged to learn about ALS and submit facts about the disease, in lieu of or in combination with a donation. By the time of the challenge, on a picture-perfect Friday afternoon, Aug. 29, hundreds of dollars had been raised, with donations still coming in.
At the end of Friday, sixth, seventh and eighth graders came out to the field in front of the tennis courts and watched as the teachers doused each other one after another.
“A great way to end the first week, don’t you think?” Meyer said afterward.
Read more about how the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge came into being here.
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…one of the reasons why this is a great school. The staff is terrific!