Walk-a-thon benefits diocesan high schools

By KATHLEEN LAMANNA- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

Community members might have been confused on their Friday-morning commute Oct. 7 as hundreds of students and faculty from Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School in Schenectady streamed past in a three-mile walk around the school.

The group was participating in the annual high school walk-a-thon, a fundraising event that all four Albany diocesan high schools -- ND-BG, Bishop Maginn High in Albany, Saratoga Central Catholic and Catholic Central High in Troy -- hold on the same day.

Each school's event is slightly different, but all have the same purpose: to strengthen the sense of community and to raise funds for the school.

ND-BG calls its walk the Golden Gallop, a play on the school's Golden Knights sports team.

Students started the day by having breakfast in their homerooms.

"Students bring in waffle-makers," said senior Elana Pijanowski, a senior who attends St. Paul the Apostle parish in Schenectady.

Students roamed the homerooms, talking to friends and enjoying waffles, bacon, doughnuts and juice. Then they gathered in the school gym before heading outside.

ND-BG's seniors lead the walk-a-thon each year -- walking behind alum Anne Ryan, who's on horseback, representing the Golden Knight school mascot.

The fundraiser also "raises spirits," said principal Peter Fusco. "It's a fun day."

After the three-mile walk through the neighborhood, students go back to the school for fun on the lawn, including a junior/senior game of Capture the Flag on the football field.

"It's more fun this year because it's senior year," said Nadia Vendetti of St. John the Evangelist parish in Schenectady.

When the students are in sixth grade, she explained, walk-a-thon day felt a little overwhelming, though it was still fun.

Nadia told The Evangelist that she felt awkward as a sixth-grader about the fundraising aspect of the day. She usually gets people to sponsor her in the walk-a-thon by going to her father's office. Now, after doing it for a few years, it's kind of exciting.

Elana agreed: She thinks the family friends whom she asks for donations look forward to it every year.

Sophia Holloway, also a senior, sets up a table at her parish, St. Kateri Tekakwitha in Schenectady, to ask parishioners to sponsor her.

The walk-a-thon is the first fundraiser of the year, said Mr. Fusco, and it's unique because the majority of donations are brought in by students, raising school morale as well as money for the school.

Even the principal asks for sponsors. "I usually use social media to solicit my funds," he told The Evangelist. "I do it the same way anyone else does. If I'm asking the kids to [raise funds], I should, too."

ND-BG usually raises more than $25,000 from its walk-a-thon.[[In-content Ad]]