On Friday, January 26th, PS8/MS8 hosted our third annual Dunk for 8, featuring basketball skills contests and 3 on 3 games for students of all ages. These were followed by the main attraction, a full-court game between the teachers and students.
The teachers’ team featured Mr. Ellison, Ms. Manning, Mr. Gari, Ms. Shultz and Ms. Sophie, who were joined by recent MS8 alumni and a few intrepid parents. The game was nip and tuck all the way, with the student team pushing the tempo and knocking down a number of three pointers. After trailing by as many as 11, the students fed off the crowd’s amazing energy and cut the lead to two. However, a late basket by Mr. Gari sealed the 45-41 win for the teachers.
The great night also featured pre-game performances from two after-school programs — the Kids Cre8 MS8 rock band (special thanks to band leader Dmitriy and parent supporter Carter) and CCM-FYI’s dance team. We are so grateful to our after school partners for their help in organizing and managing games and contests. Special thanks to the amazing 5th grade Teaching Assistant Jessica Hand, Hector from CCM-FYI, and Michael (who helped referee the intense big game) Hajar, David, Davia, and Bryan from Kids Orbit. And, of course, 6th grade teacher Michelle Rosenberg, for her help as emcee announcing activities over all the very loud fun — and Principal Trish Peterson, Assistant Principal Tracey Scronic, and middle school teachers Sarah Elrafei and Nicole Marcellin for their presence and guidance throughout the night! We couldn’t have done it without them.
Thanks go out to our event sponsor Modell’s for supplying $200 in $10 gift cards to inspire our basketball competitors. Also much appreci8ed are the many area restaurants who donated food (Westville, the Park Plaza Diner, Gran Electrica, and Starbucks) and additional gift cards (Luciano’s and Concord Market)! We were able to offer B.good salads, sandwiches, lemonade and iced tea thanks to their naming us as a “community partner” last year — we reaped rewards from hundreds (thousands?) of diners who donated food to us through that program.
Huge kudos to event co-chairs Caleb & Elisabeth Heidebrecht and Murray Edwards, and all the volunteers — especially Ann Dooley for her amazing poster art, Lindsey Engler for fun t-shirt design and organizational prowess regarding all things merchandise, the 8th grade bake sale team led by Cat Henry and Mary O’Connell, Kathy Chandra for picking up and delivering all the food, Melis Bromberg for all-around amazingness, and Ansley Samson for helping with paperwork, communication and loose ends leading up to the event.
And, last but not least, congrats to all our contest winners: John D., Justice, Badr, Anna B., Davian, Mark H., Corte, Julian S., Shia, Sam B., Aeden, Jayden, Dashawn, Mohammed E., Warner, Hakeem, Jaelen; Casey, Emma B., Sophia D., Lamont, and Taylor!
Check out more photos from this amazing night at PTA of PS8’s Facebook Page.
By Andy Flamm
