For Central Catholic, Scoops and Hoops was truly the event of the season. With almost the entire school showing up to watch the basketball tournament, it proved to be a great way to raise money, connect as a community, and increase school spirit. In the end, the teachers dominated the court, much to the surprise of the graduating class of 2024.
Ms. Chase’s senior religion class, which is tasked with creating a community service project every year, was able to find a new spin for their class project. They raised over $1000 within about two hours for the Lazarus House Ministries.
The idea all started with Nadaly Soto, who thought that “in terms of the school, it would appeal to a wider audience.” After interviewing Soto, we found that making Scoops and Hoops work was a two month long process where she and her classmates made google forms, posted flyers around the school, discussed ideas with Mrs. Keller, and planned the ultimate event to raise money and school spirit.
To create the first Scoops and Hoops event, Soto and her classmates first had to brainstorm how to get money, supplies, and when to host this fundraiser. We found that Ms. Chase’s class was extremely grateful for Mrs. Keller’s flexibility and faith in her students.
As some of them pointed out in interviews, she took a big risk by allowing students to organize a school wide event, especially considering that this has never been done before.
According to Soto, “We spoke to Mrs. Keller, and she approved the afternoon assembly that day, which was really what enabled the whole event to actually take place, because without that, there would’ve been a lot of after school conflicts, between sports and things like that.”
Originally the idea was voted on, and only then was it committed to. But first the class had to figure out how to monetize the event to support Lazarus House. Aside from entrance fees for the players, the class decided to open the Raider Cafe for concessions. The thought to sell Hoodsie cups was popular among the seniors because “they were quite nostalgic” according to Soto.
Then they started asking teachers to donate concessions and that was how the majority of ice cream and snacks were provided for.
“It was really a lot of networking because I had to go talk to a lot of teachers, ask for their support and donations, and a lot of them said yes!” Nadaly remarked.
We also interviewed Jill DeLuca, who played a key part in the organization for the event. She discussed how it was exciting to be involved in this new fundraiser, but since it was new, the planning came with some stress: “For the underclassmen and the juniors, we didn’t get players until literally two days before the event, which was very stressful.”
However, it all worked out, thanks to Ms. Chase’s senior religion class, including Luke Surrete, who designed the Scoops and Hoops posters to spread the message and encourage others to sign up.
On the day of Scoops and Hoops, almost the entire school showed up to support the fundraiser. According to a Central sophomore, “it really impacted the school spirit and was a big showout”. Another student remarked that it was “just really cool to see everyone coming together as a school community”.
Corey Mangione, seen here in the Berkeley jersey, remarked afterwards that, “I definitely didn’t expect the crowd to be that big, and that was really great”.
Some highlights from the day include, Ms. Kriner’s pump-fake, Mr. Gabriel’s serious dribbling skills, and last but not least, Mr. Sipsy hitting the three pointers.
Brother Rene at this this very successful and thoroughly fundraiser. Ms. Chase and her religion class worked really hard to bring it all together, and everybody is hoping the school will have another shot at Scoops and Hoops!
