Freezin' for a reason at Polar Plunge

Article and Photo by Alice Gerard

Senior Contributing Writer

Grand Island High School students and staff ran into the chilly waters of Lake Erie on a cold and windy Dec. 5 to raise money for a worthy cause.

According to Charlotte Tower, a student ex-officio member of the Grand Island Board of Education, who spoke at the Dec. 8 meeting held at Kaegebein Elementary School, “Last Friday was the Polar Plunge. Dr. (Brian) Graham and I took the leap into the freezing Lake Erie after raising $5,000 as a school for the Special Olympics.”

The Polar Plunge was held at Woodlawn Beach State Park in Blasdell.

Graham, superintendent of the Grand Island Central School District, said that Brian Albert, a special education teacher at the high school, “actually went under(water). He went all the way into Lake Erie to support the great cause of Special Olympics. Brian, I just want to thank you. I want to thank Hillary Kretz-Harvey, the teachers, and the high school. For many years, you and others have been leading this initiative. You and I were walking out of the lake and coming back, and you shared with me that, over the course of time, tens of thousands of dollars have been raised by Grand Island High School students and faculty for taking that challenge of the Polar Plunge.”

“The Special Olympics is really about creating opportunities for everyone,” Albert said.

One of the opportunities that the Special Olympics has created is the Unified Sports Program, which provides students with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to play on sports teams with students without disabilities.

“We’ve seen how beneficial it is for kids,” Albert said.

This year’s team has been one of the best, he noted, adding it came from student initiative.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen this year,” Albert explained. “We had students who were willing to pass out flyers and go door-to-door and find different ways to advertise. Charlotte actually approached me and asked, ‘Are we having our team this year?’ I was shocked that my email hadn’t gone through to the student body. My attempts at communication had failed. But we had these two students who were out there. It was very much a student-led initiative.”

In addition to current students and staff, there were former students who participated in the plunge. One of them was Stephen Palmeri, who participated in the first plunge, which Albert said occurred in 2019.

“He had already turned 18 so he was allowed to plunge. There was no in-school challenge that year. He has come back and has plunged with us ever since,” Albert said. “He does a phenomenal job of raising money throughout the year.”

Palmeri is currently employed as an engineer – “He’s building the Buffalo Bills stadium,” Albert said.

“Tricia (Palmeri) is here today,” Albert said. “They are a big part of the Grand Island community. They know how to work local businesses and how to advertise. They find different ways to gain donations, like garage sales and jersey raffles and basket raffles.”

Graham said that he was impressed with the $5,000 raised by the team.

“It’s amazing. We thank everybody who was involved.”

In addition to the Dec. 5 “Cool School Plunge,” two other plunges occurred. They were the Corporate and Union Plunge, held Dec. 4; and the Buffalo Polar Plunge, open to everyone, on Dec. 6.