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Jumping for a cause

Bethel Park Best Buddies ‘Polar Plunging’ for Special Olympics

By Paul Paterra 5 min read
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Among members of the Bethel Park Best Buddies who will participate in a Polar Plunge Feb. 23 at Acrisure Stadium are, from left, Artemis Conaboy, Ella Milliken, Olivia Kitchen, Ella Sabatois, Avery Bonnaci and Joseph Villani, principal of Bethel Park High School.
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Taking the Polar Plunge in 2023 are, from left, Olivia Kitchen, Carly O’Meary and Meghan Tischler.
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Ella Milliken, left, and Ella Sabatos enter the icy water.
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Joseph Villani, Bethel Park High School principal, takes his turn in the Polar Plunge.

Some Bethel Park High School students will dive into icy water next weekend, all in the name of friendship.

The Best Buddies Club at Bethel Park High School will participate in the Polar Plunge Special Olympics Pa. Fundraiser Feb. 23 at Acrisure Stadium.

“Everyone gets their chance to jump into an ice cold pool for the cause,” said Artemis Conaboy, president of the school’s Best Buddies Club. “It’s a great time, and we raise money for the Special Olympics.”

This is the second year the club will participate in the event.

Best Buddies International is the world’s largest organization dedicated to ending social, physical and economic isolation of those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Bethel Park Club has about 180 members, 18 of whom are expected to jump into the cold water next weekend.

Junior Olivia Kitchen, club vice president, said the group’s goal to raise $2,500 through the polar plunge already has been exceeded by $50. In 2023, a little more than $1,800 was raised.

Bethel Park School District offers unified certified sports, an inclusive sports program that unites Special Olympics athletes with partners.

“To surpass that goal and to be at almost $2,500 is a testimonial to the work they’re doing in promoting this,” said Joseph Villani, high school principal. “One of the things (unified certified sports and Special Olympics) asks when we join and they fund these programs for us is that we help support them. That’s where this fundraising goes. This goes back to continued efforts to expand unified certified sports to bring it to more schools and to more communities and to add more options for sports to be more accessible to students of all ability levels, exceptional and regular.”

Plunge participants are pumped up for the chilly fundraiser, and recalled last year’s event.

“It was so cold,” said junior Ella Milliken, club secretary, of last year’s plunge. “The event is outside, so once you get out, you run to the bathroom because it’s the only (warm place). I didn’t dress warm enough. This year, I’ll know better.”

“The water is much colder than you can imagine,” Conaboy said. “But in the grand scheme of things, it’s worth it, especially after being so involved and seeing what the Special Olympics does for unified sports and our buddies.”

The students adopted a theme for the plunge. Last year, they had a Pac-Man theme, and this year, it’s superheroes, an idea created by Julia Miller, the club’s media chair. Conaboy plans to dress as Batman.

A senior, Conaboy joined Bethel Park’s Best Buddies as a freshman and as her involvement continued, she said she “fell in love with it.”

“We get kids who want to interact and go to events, which is a big part of it,” Conaboy said. “A majority of those students who want to come to the events, interact with the kids with intellectual disabilities, get to know them.”

Kitchen said her involvement in Best Buddies helped her decide to pursue a career in special education.

“A lot of my friends talked about joining Best Buddies, so we did and we loved it. When you fill out your application and say you want a one-on-one buddy match, you’re automatically paired with a kid with an IDD and you hang out with them outside of school or eat lunch with them. It’s amazing. It makes us feel good because it makes them feel good. We want to make them feel more included.”

It was that type of interaction that appealed to freshman Avery Bonnaci.

“It’s fun interacting with them and making that connection with them and getting to know them,” she said.

“It’s so much fun,” Milliken added. “You become so close with them and it gives them someone that they can come and talk to anytime.”

“We always take them to things that we do,” said junior Ella Sabatos, club communications director. “They’re really grateful to us to make them feel included because they don’t always have a bunch of friends outside of the school.”

Anyone interested in donating to the polar plunge can visit https://give.specialolympicspa.org/team/550213.

The club holds other fundraisers throughout the year, such as Miracle Minute collections at various school events.

“We have one minute to go around with buckets to collect as much money as possible for a fundraiser,” Conaboy said.

There’s also a Best Buddies Friendship Walk scheduled for April 7 at Highmark Stadium. It is the leading walk in the country that supports inclusion for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Villani said he is impressed with what the students have done with Best Buddies.

“They’re awesome,” he said. “They’ve got big hearts. They’ve set the tone for what the expectation of Best Buddies really is with the extracurriculars. It’s not a club or a community service. They’re friends. They’re buddies.”

Conaboy is looking forward to taking another “plunge.”

“I am so excited to be able to raise so much money for a great cause and also get to spend the day promoting such an amazing cause and jumping in with my best friends,” she said.

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