Harborfields homecoming ‘bucket’ list: Soaking teachers

For Harborfields students, the teachers who were all wet Friday were actually held in the highest regard.

Students and faculty at Harborfields High School in Greenlawn donated some of their homecoming spirit to raise money for a good cause with a fundraising competition for the ALS Foundation.

During the school’s Spirit Week, leading up to Saturday’s homecoming game, students donated money to teachers who were raising funds for the foundation. The top eight teachers who collected the most money took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (a phenomenon that has gone viral nationwide) at the homecoming carnival on Friday afternoon.

“The kids asked us in the beginning of the year if we would be willing to participate in something like this,” said Cathy Purcell, a math teacher at Harborfields who took the Ice Bucket Challenge. “It was actually a lot of fun.”

Students were still collecting money for the ALS Foundation at their homecoming pep rally Friday night in the school gymnasium.

“We were thinking of things to make the carnival and Spirit Week more interesting,” said Harborfields senior Alexandra Werbitsky, who helped organize the fundraiser. “We’re going to keep collecting money until homecoming is over.”

Fundraising isn’t new for Harborfields — the school has incorporated fundraising into their Spirit Week events for the last three years, choosing a different charity to donate to every year.

SEE PHOTOSPhotos: High school homecomings across LI

“The kids look forward to homecoming every year. They know it’s coming and they always get excited when Spirit Week comes around,” said student government adviser and Harborfields social studies teacher Greg Taylor. “It’s truly a tradition here.”