Pictured from left to right: Summer Caruso, Cienna Keoppe, Hailey Slaughter, Melissa Teke.
For the past eleven years Batavia High School Business Professionals of America (BPA) students have plunged into ice cold water to raise money for Special Olympics. This year, the temperature was in the single digits and the water was covered with ice. The annual Polar Plunge took place January 29th outside Reds Stadium at The Banks.
The Batavia BPA Polar Team has raised over $100,000 since they began participating in 2011. They dedicated this year’s plunge to Miss Beeker’s class at Batavia Elementary School. The elementary students asked the team to do cannonballs and several team members complied.
Chapter advisor Angie Kovacs said, “I think they are crazy for jumping in this weather, but it was important for a lot of them to plunge, even if they literally freeze doing it.”
Sophomore Alex Hall volunteered to take the stage as the Polar Bear mascot before taking the plunge with his team.
Special Olympics is the national service project for BPA. Batavia BPA students are enrolled in the legal management program at Batavia High School, a satellite program of Great Oaks Career Campuses.