The Interact Club puts together a charity basketball game where the cheerleaders and the basketball players reverse roles in efforts to raise money for a specific charity organization. This year the game hit a little bit closer to home.

Mr. Ferraro, a loved history teacher and mentor here at the high school, was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of the school year. The whole Latrobe community was devastated and in shock that such an awful thing could happen to such an amazing man.

 The students and faculty of Ligonier Valley school district are coping with the same heartbreak. Sophomore Jesse Reed is undergoing chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with cancer as well.

Both Mr. Ferraro’s and Jesse Reed’s fight with cancer motivated everyone to make this year’s basketball game the best yet.

In previous years the wildcats have battled it out on the court against the Derry trojans. Jasika Shaker, the president of interact club, accredits the change to the motivation of the students.

“Yes we have always played against Derry and we were on the track to still play with them, however, they dropped out last minute. We don’t have an exact answer as to why they did so, but in my opinion it seemed like they just didn’t didn’t have the drive that Latrobe’s Interact Club had to make this game really good and they just didn’t want to put in the effort.”

There is a lot that goes into preparing an event such as this one. All the members of the interact club went around looking for sponsorships, put up signs throughout the community and school, as well as the girls practicing their basketball skills and the boys learning a cheer routine.

“We went around to a bunch of businesses to ask for donations of food, money, auction baskets, or simply if they could just hang our flyer at their business! We had to put some baskets together, and make a lot of phone calls to make sure everything was up and running. On the day of the event, we had to drive around to all the businesses that donated food and pick it up, as well as bring all the auction baskets that we collected over to the school,” explained Jasika.

The event ran smoothly with the stands filled and appearances from Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli and the Steelers marching band. Mr. Ferraro was there, and although Jesse Reed was not able to make it his grandma was in attendance on his behalf.

The girls ran out of the locker room to the song “Bring them Out” and the basketball battle began. The Ligonier girls routed the girls for the majority of the game, until the Latrobe girls banded together and started pulling ahead. In the last quarter, with thanks to coach Nate Clair, the latrobe girls stole the ball, got the rebounds, and made the layups to make them victorious.

Kaylee Wallace, a senior cheerleader, loves seeing the different perspective of being off and on the courts. “After cheering on the sidelines it was neat to see what the boys go through on the court,” explained Wallace.

The halftime dance was something that many people will not be able to forget. The ligonier cheerleaders showed up in tight jean shorts and cutoff grey sweatshirts. The Latrobe boys wore old actual cheer uniforms. Both cheer teams showed great enthusiasm but the Ligonier boys did a few extra splits and stunts to put them over the top.

The total amount of money raised was over 6,000 dollars, which is the most amount raised out of all the years this event took place.

VOICE BOX

What made this year’s basketball game a success and memorable?

“My favorite memory was banging my head off of Lauren and taking a chunk of skin out of a Ligonier girls hand” -Emma Greiner, Junior

“It was a super fun time for a great cause.” -Cassidy Dunaway, Senior

“After cheering on the sidelines it was neat to see what the boys go through on the court.” -Kaylee Wallace, Senior

“We all worked together so good! We all tried hard even though basketball isn’t our best sport, and ended up pulling through and winning. Definitely a highlight of my high school experience!” -Vicki Potter, Senior

“I think this event was the best yet because it was for a cause that hit home to both teams. And we got the W so that’s a definite bonus!”- Landry Quinn, Junior

“My favorite memory was accidentally knocking over a Ligonier girl and then having to apologize to her for it.” -Lauren Willner, Junior

Whether we won or lost, this event was a success because of the community effort that was put in to help out two people that are in a major battle. That’s the real trophy.” -Sidnie Gmuer, Sophomore