Dodgeball fundraiser hits its target

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The Kangaroo Krew celebrates its first-place win Saturday during the second annual dodgeball fundraiser for Homer Junior High School’s Parent Teacher Organization. | Jessica CIlella~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 14, 2012 8:08AM

Sporting knee-high polka dot socks, brightly colored shorts and a green shirt with her team’s name across the front, Spanish teacher Lindsey Waichulis was ready to dominate Saturday night at Homer Junior High School’s second annual dodgeball fundraiser.

Out of the 13 teams, Waichulis’ team, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, was one of the most enthusiastic, a quality that brought them to the final game of the night against the fundraiser’s reigning champions.

Still, after working their way through the bracket for more than three hours in the school’s gym filled with loud music, student cheers and extreme moves by the players, Waichulis’ team couldn’t beat the neon-clad Kangaroo Krew, led by former student teacher Pat Grady.

Luckily, their second-place finish was still a victory for the school, at 15711 Bell Road in Homer Glen.

Each player, including community members older than 18 and faculty and staff members from Homer Community Consolidated School District 33C, paid $20 to participate in the tournament. That money, along with funds raised through concessions and raffles, is being given to the school’s Parent Teacher Organization.

“It’s brings the school and the community together,” said Waichulis, who started the fundraiser last year in conjunction with the PTO after seeing something similar done at a school in Elmhurst. “It was such a hit last year, and everyone really thought that it would take off again this year, and it sure has.”

The PTO is able to use the money from the fundraiser — which Waichulis estimates came out to about $5,000 — in any way that will benefit the students’ education.

A decision on what exactly the funds will be put toward will be made at the end of the year, after the PTO has a chance to hear input from school officials, parents and teachers. In previous years, they have used fundraiser money to buy iPods, a giant projector screen for the gym and to help fund an eighth-grade dance.

Mike Poremea, a seventh-grade social studies teacher who played on the fourth-place team Boom! Goes the Dynamite, said he wanted to be involved with the fundraiser because it was for a good cause.

“It’s fun,” he said. “The kids like it, too. Our PTO does a lot. It’s almost a thankless job they do sometimes, but we really do appreciate all the things (they do).”

With only five minutes to play each game, the teams moved fast, often aiming their tosses at the opposing team’s feet – a tricky move that resulted in a lot of players getting knocked out of the game until one of their teammates caught a ball.

Some players donned sweatbands or bandanas, while others showed their passion for the game simply with the sweat glistening on their faces and yells from the sidelines.

As a few hundred students and parents watched, the most intense players made dives to catch the blue, orange and green balls while others cowered, just like in grade school, as multiple balls were thrown their way.

Physical education and health teacher Brittany Kohnke said the teachers’ promotion of the fundraiser for the past few weeks in school resulted in the good turnout of students.

“(The students) get into it, they call out our names,” she said. “They like to see us make fools of ourselves.”

In between games, more than 30 prizes from local businesses were raffled off, including a 32-inch-screen TV that was won by seventh-grader Rachel McCluskey.

Principal Troy Mitchell, who played on the same team as Poremea and dean of students Greg Zurales, said he was pleased with the success of the fundraiser and how well it fit with what his students are interested in.

“You always have a hard time finding a junior high niche,” he said. “Dances are not really cool for them to come to, beside the eighth-grade social, and movie nights are more elementary. So it’s more in the junior high mindset, as far as interests — watching their parents throw a ball at the dean or the principal of the school.”