On Friday, students gathered around the stage, video cameras in hand to see their teachers perform the outrageous tasks they had helped fundraise for the Foothill for Africa cause.
Last week, March 14-19, teachers had set goal prices for their proposed challenge with students. Students were then asked to donate money for their teacher’s cause during the last two weeks to ultimately see the grand performances this Friday.
Students altogether raised $3,567.73 for Schools for Salone, leaving them roughly $2,000 short of their $50,000 goal which they plan to reach at the FFA Food Tasting, Art Auction, and Benefit Concert taking place at the Poinsettia Pavilion today.
The first performance, which garnered the attention from seniors particularly, was an arm wrestling contest between teachers Melanie “Captain” Lindsey and Cherie Eulau. Senior Bill Grundler, the host for the event, and junior Henry Ashworth helped set the two off and timed them for the minute. After a tie had been drawn within the first round, the crowd cheered for an encore.
The two went at it again, smiles filled with pain on both their faces as they battled it out to “Eye of the Tiger.” Grundler suggested that one of them stand up, and so Lindsey did, pinning Eulau.
Next came a push-up contest between Justin Frazier and Lindsey. Both had drawn hearts with arrows and the other’s surname on their arm. Students gathered closer and stood up on tables to get a closer look as Frazier frantically performed his pushups. After Grundler began instructing the two with “Down, Up” cues for the pushups, Captain remained victorious.
Grundler bellowed, “She came from behind and won,” as she stood in front of her crowd and did a muscle pose. The crowd applauded wildly.
Wendi Butler was next to perform and sung “Let it Be” by The Beatles for her challenge. Swept away by the microphone, she was energetic and she swayed to the music. Butler instructed the crowd to sing with her, and students across the quad could be heard chiming in. When the song finished, the crowd erupted into applause.
Followed by a short intermission so that students could purchase the $5 Schools for Salone and FFA t-shirts, there was a rap battle between Anthony Villa, Karrie Thompson-Carey, John Weldele and Eulau. The crowd cheered as Weldele walked on stage in an un-tucked shirt, sideways baseball hat and cool shades.
“’Sup?” Weldele asked the crowd before starting to rap “Handlebars”. As the teachers stomp danced forward, similar to those of real rappers, students used phones to film them. The crowd laughed when Weldele, a physics and chemistry teacher, rapped “Like a molecule, like a molecule.”
The crowd further erupted as Villa performed a soloist rap mid song.
“Dang, Mr. Villa can throw down some mad beats!” said senior Cassandra Gluck.
As the song closed, Weldele did an unexpected fist pump, causing my screams and attention from the students.
“It was really good. I expected more from Mr. Weldele though. But after thinking about it, it’s Mr. Weldele, and this is not something he usually does. I loved the “‘sup” he said at the beginning and the end fist pump,” said Michelle Stassforth.
The last performance of the day was a duet between Butler and Grundler. Despite the fact that the two had only one rehearsal that morning to the Les Misderables song “A Little Fall of Rain,” the crowd was thoroughly impressed by the duos performance.
The duo received the most attention from the event as an uproar in the crowd began. Students and teachers were awed by the performance.
“I was incredibly disappointed Butler didn’t say ‘angiosperm‘ (a promise given to her AP Bio class if Butler remembered on stage), but it was still pretty fantastic,” said senior Karen Fox.
English teacher and journalism advisor Melissa Wantz will perform “Can’t be Tamed” by Miley Cyrus at Air Guitar.
The event closed with Grundler and Eulau reminding students to come to the FFA Food Tasting, Art Auction, and Benefit Concert today at the Poinsettia Pavilion to help them achieve the remainder of their $50,000 goal.
Teachers that raised the most money were: Claire Adams with $470.25, Kristin Faulconer with $300, Justin Frazier with $108.92, Alice Rocca with $128, Adrian Sanchez with $160.72, Anthony Villa with $483.33, Melissa Wantz with $778.36, and John Weldele with $363.40.
Photo Credit: Rachel Crane/The Foothill Dragon Press.
Editor’s Note: Karrie Thompson-Carey, not Cathy Gaspard, rapped with Cherie Eulau, Anthony Villa and John Weldele and this article has been modified to correct this mistake as of Sunday March 21 at 10:29 a.m.
