Two very round, grimacing opponents faced off across the circular red ring while the crowd roared their support. Moments later the two foes charged – okay, waddled – toward one another, bouncing inflated bellies and struggling for a grip to send their rival to the ground.
The scene was the gymnasium of the Anna L. Klein School in Guttenberg. The occasion was a fundraiser for an eighth grade environmental field trip. And the opponents were two teachers at the school.
“This is a first for us,” said ring announcer Keith Petry, better known as the supervisor of science, electives, and discipline for grades kindergarten through 4th. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Four matches took place on Friday, May 1, in a room packed with kids screaming for their favorite competitor. Or perhaps they were cheering for a little vicarious payback against a teacher for a bad grade or a pop quiz.
The latter had to be some of the motivation during Pie Day one month earlier. “We did Pie Day in honor of the mathematical number pi,” explained Principal Donna Grzybowski. “So they threw pies at the faculty. It was great. You had to see them. We had whipped cream on paper plates. There was a schedule posted and each teacher who got pied had a certain time and the kids could come with their tickets. They had so many tickets and they could pie whoever they wanted to, based on the schedule. The kids loved it.”
The event was a huge success, raising about $1,200 in two hours. “We found that a lot of fundraisers, like selling candy and things from a catalog, the kids don’t get into it and they don’t go out of their way to do it,” said Grzybowski. “They like things where they can participate, so we’re trying to think outside the box a little bit and do more of those types of things as fundraisers.”
Four sets of foes
The sumo suits were rented from a party company. Once the wrestler climbed inside, they were inflated like a beach ball. “We’ve had the suits all week so we did previews during lunch periods,” said Eighth Grade Literature Teacher Megan Cohn, who organized the event. “We walked up and down the street in the morning before school” to drum up interest in the fundraiser.
Four sumo matches pitted teachers and administrators from Anna L. Klein School against one another in suits that inflated like beach balls.
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The wrestlers were all volunteers from among the teachers and school administrators. “Donna Grzybowski was supposed to be going up against the superintendent but the superintendent’s out sick today so it’s Tara Tholen,” said Cohn. Another match pitted teachers Jim Stazak and Ivan Hecht against one another.
The first match, Jon Weber vs. Bobby Correggio, was specifically requested by the kids. “Jon Weber is a coach up at North Bergen for the wrestling team,” said Cohn. “And they both teach eighth grade so the eighth graders are really looking forward to it.”
The competition ended with teachers Jenna Lanzaro and Andrew Gallagher facing off. “Andy and Jenna are actually a couple so they wanted to go against one another,” Cohn explained. “Andy said, ‘I’m not going to win either way.’”
It was a particularly spirited match, with teams of kids crowding the gym floor and shouting for their favorite.
Fundraising for a field trip
All the fundraising was for a good cause: to send 54 eighth graders and 10 teacher-chaperones on a three-day camping trip to Stokes State Forest in Branchville, New Jersey.
“It builds leadership,” said Grzybowski. “It also teaches the kids about conservation and appreciation of nature, so it combines science, math, all the disciplines, and team-building.”
Kids are divided into groups of about 10 students each and rotate activities determined by the chaperones. “It’s a series of different classes, plus things like rock climbing,” said Grzybowski. “They learn how to hike through the woods. They learn metal smithing, old crafts. There are a lot of things where they have to rely on each other. There’s problem solving out in the middle of the woods. So it builds a lot of social skills and character building skills.”
Each kid is charged $50 to attend, toward the total cost of $143 per child. Some of the difference is picked up by contributions from the Municipal Alliance, the PTO, and funds left over from last year’s eighth grade account.
The remainder comes from fundraising activities at the school. “She’s a very fierce fundraiser,” said Grzybowski about Cohn, who had eight years of event planning in her background before becoming a teacher and sumo director in Guttenberg.
Gift certificates were contributed by local businesses Green Kitchen, Good Eats, Rose’s Deli, and Antonio’s Pizzeria.
Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.
SIDEBAR
Groundbreaking ceremony marks launch of school annex
Politicians and school administrators joined with hundreds of students and members of the community to officially break ground on the new addition to the Anna L. Klein School. The new facility will open as an adjunct to the existing school during the day and be available to the community as a recreation center after hours and on weekends. An outdoor park will be featured on the roof.
The building is a combined project of the town and the school system, with funding from the state and county.
“This is really a joint project,” said Guttenberg Mayor Gerald Drasheff at the event on May 6. “It could not have been done by the town by itself or by the school by itself.”
“It’s a great day for Guttenberg and when you have the municipality and the school board working together to get this accomplished, everybody wins,” said Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, one of the guests at the groundbreaking. “The children win; you’re going to have a great addition to your schools that’s sorely needed. The community’s going to get a community center that they will be able to use after hours. So it’s great. All levels of government have come together.”
“This is really an example of what can be done when all your different branches of government work to represent and meet the needs of everybody that we are elected to represent,” added Drasheff.
Ground moving equipment was already in place, with excavation begun and the initial piles of dirt already displaced. Attending the official groundbreaking event were North Bergen Mayor and State Sen. Nicholas Sacco, County Executive Tom DeGise, members of the Board of Education, and many other town and school administrators.
“I’m going to tell you something you probably already know,” DeGise shared with the crowd gathered on 68th Street near Hudson Avenue. “Your mayor here in the small town of Guttenberg is a very persistent and patient man. Ever since he’s been elected we have been talking about this particular project.”
The new facility is scheduled for completion in January 2017.