WWAY joins Dunk-A-Palooza at Murray Middle to support Special Olympics
NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A New Hanover County Middle School is raising money for the New Hanover County Special Olympics ahead of the big Polar Plunge event with the 2023 Dunk-A-Palooza.
WWAY’s Hannah Patrick and Sports Director Jake Eichstaedt joined in on the fun Friday morning taking a bucket of water to the face.
Murray Middle School is a National Banner Unified Champion School. This is the fourth year Murray Middle School has held the event fundraising for Special Olympics & Unified Champion Schools.
Laura Rosser is a Murray Middle special education teacher and an advisor for Unified Champion Schools. Rosser says all week, they’ve been dunking teachers, administrators, and other big names in the community. Friday was the grand finale and lots of students got to join in on the fun.
This year, Rosser says they wanted to raise $4,000. She says the best part of the whole experience for her is seeing how excited the students get about supporting the cause.
“These kids are stopping me in the hall and saying, ‘Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? And Ms. Hill and I are saying, ‘We’re close. We’re close. We’re close.’ And then yesterday, I got a little side eye that said, ‘I think we made it.’ And I said, ‘ We did. We made it.’ And they are so excited to support New Hanover County Special Olympics. And we are so excited to see their civic support and them growing into citizens that are going to support our community of students with intellectual disabilities,” Rosser said.
Rosser said it is important that the community continues supporting organizations like the Special Olympics.
“New Hanover County Special Olympics supports over 700 athletes, social events, sporting events, you name it. Last year, we put in T-shirts on all of New Hanover County Schools by our fundraiser, just our fundraiser. We need to continue to make a socially inclusive community and Special Olympics does that,” Rosser said.
You can still join in on the fun too. The Polar Plunge benefiting New Hanover County Special Olympics is happening Saturday in Kure Beach. It starts at 11 in the morning at the Kure Beach Pavilion. Athletes can either take part in the 5-k run, a one-mile fun run, or by take a chilling plunge in the ocean.
