Category Archives: Dodgeball Tournament

Lynn Clark “Keeps It Going” with Community Connections

When we launched the Keep It! Campaign, one of the core ideas was that our success or failure would be directly related to how well we were able to harness the “Power of Ten”. The key to this strategy was the idea of multiplication. Raising funds is certainly critical, but it’s even more important to “Keep It Going!” by connecting others to the cause. As we have moved forward, a number of key individuals have helped us to unlock the “Power of Ten”. Their stories are as diverse as they are inspiring. Each has connected a wide range of people to the project, raised significant funds to support the cause, and brought their own personal talents and interests to the project. Through a feature entitled “Keep It! Going”, we salute these champions by sharing their stories and recognizing their contribution with a simple keychain created by the children of Ivory Park.

Lynn Clark cares about communities. Whether it’s her hometown neighbors, a South African township in need, or PASC students and peers, she believes in nurturing relationships. It is this desire to build strong connections that has made Clark one of the Keep It! Campaign’s most loyal advocates.

Clark is the student council adviser and a health and physical education teacher at Norwin High School (North Huntingdon, PA). She values the lessons modeled through the PASC and encourages her students to practice these ideals. Through student council initiatives, Norwin’s student leaders are learning decision-making skills that allow them to be proactive in meeting needs in their own community and beyond. “Our group is very active in PASC state conferences and summer programs,” says Clark. “I send my students to these workshops to learn about leadership. We value our relationship with the PASC and believe it is important to support their initiatives as well as what is happening in our own neighborhood.”

It was through a former student’s experience at a 2009 PASC summer workshop that Clark first learned about the Campaign for Ivory Park. She recalls Forrest Mance’s excitement when he first shared the Keep It! story with his peers, and she enthusiastically backed his efforts to gain the council’s support for the campaign. As a result, students raised more than $700 through a dodgeball tournament held on behalf of Keep It! “Forrest is an awesome leader who took the initiative to organize, plan, and collect the funds,” notes Clark. And while Mance got the ball rolling in support of the campaign, it has been Clark’s job to help maintain the momentum through the years.

“I try to influence the students when I can,” says Clark. “I want them to know that it is important to support our own community but that, even if it’s not in our neck of the woods, we can make a difference. It’s important to be supportive of those who need our help whenever and wherever we can.” This philosophy was put into play in the spring of 2011, when the Norwin student council hosted another dodgeball tournament. Clark notes that the students were excited about the opportunity to provide additional support for Keep It! when an unforeseen and violent act of nature changed their plans. “Our community was hit by a destructive tornado in the spring,” explains Clark. “Some areas were devastated.” In this case, Clark and her students knew that they needed to provide support to neighbors who were dealing with the crisis, so tournament proceeds were donated to local relief efforts.

Still, Clark notes that Ivory Park is always in the hearts and minds of her students. “The kids have seen pictures of the difference they are making in South Africa,” she says. “They want to be a part of it. They want to know about the progress being made. It has become personal for them.” Because of this, Clark and her students donated their remaining funds for the 2010-2011 school year to Keep It! In addition, students have donated concession stand proceeds from a November 2011 power puff game and are planning a February 2012 Keep It! dodgeball tournament.

“One of our long term goals is to expand the scope of Keep It! beyond Ivory park as we continue to accomplish our goals in South Africa,” explains Keep It! founder Bob Tryanski. “Norwin’s experience is the perfect illustration of how the idea of ‘Act Locally, Reach Globally’ can impact communities at home as well as abroad. When student leaders and their advisers are proactive rather than reactive, they are ready to respond to a crisis as soon as the need arises. They become decision makers and change agents, not just fund raisers. This doesn’t happen by accident; it happens by design. It’s sustainable, scalable, and replicable. Those are the hallmarks of social entrepreneurship.”

Through community connections and her efforts to provide sustainability for the Keep It! Campaign, Clark is teaching her students about the importance of reaching out to those in their own community and abroad. In October of 2010, her outstanding efforts were acknowledged when she was named a PASC adviser of the year. The Keep It! Campaign is proud to honor Lynn Clark, a campaign champion who “Keeps It Going” through sustained support and community connections.

Forrest Mance “Keeps It Going!” With a Dodgeball Tournament Tradition

Leave a reply

When we launched the Keep It! Campaign, one of the core ideas was that our success or failure would be directly related to how well we were able to harness the “Power of Ten”. The key to this strategy was the idea of multiplication. Raising funds is certainly critical, but it’s even more important to “Keep It Going!” by connecting others to the cause. As we have moved forward, a number of key individuals have helped us to unlock the “Power of Ten”. Their stories are as diverse as they are inspiring. Each has connected a wide range of people to the project, raised significant funds to support the cause, and brought their own personal talents and interests to the project. Through a new feature entitled “Keep It! Going”, we will salute these champions by sharing their stories and recognizing their contribution with a simple keychain created by the children of Ivory Park.

When Forrest Mance was a sophomore at Norwin High School in North Huntingdon, PA, a world cultures course introduced him to the challenges facing impoverished communities in South Africa. The service-minded Mance was touched by what he saw, and he wanted to help. But though Mance had the motivation, he wasn’t sure how to transform his inspiration into a strategy that could impact people who live thousands of miles away. Enter the Keep It! Campaign.

Forrest Mance (second from right) and fellow student leaders at the June 2009 PASC Advanced Gold Workshop.

Mance had previously met Keep It! founder Bob Tryanski at a PASC summer workshop. When he learned about Tryanski’s work with the Campaign for Ivory Park, he knew that he’d found the perfect way to take action. Mance encouraged fellow student council members to embrace Keep It! and became the driving force behind a dodgeball tournament designed to benefit Ivory Park. He asked the high school news broadcasting group to make a promotional video advertising the tournament and posted flyers designed to spur interest. He expanded involvement by enlisting teams of teachers and students throughout the school district. As a result, Mance and the Norwin student council recruited 18 teams and raised $700 for the campaign.

“The great thing about Forrest’s willingness to take initiative at Norwin is that he was a catalyst for sustained support at his high school. Forrest graduated from Norwin last year, but the dodgeball tournament is happening again this year. Sustainable support is the key to our success in Ivory Park,” says Tryanski.

Mance’s involvement with the Keep It! Campaign helped to make him a global citizen, and he believes that all students need to be aware of issues affecting people in their own communities and abroad. His efforts also allowed him to practice valuable leadership skills. “Students need to realize the potential they have to change lives, not only in their own communities, but around the globe,” he says. “Through the campaign, I learned that it was possible for a high school student to make a huge contribution, and I also learned about planning and goal setting. Watching the event come together and realizing that I was able to directly improve someone’s life situation was satisfying.”

Forrest Mance (front) participates in an outdoor team building adventure at the PASC Advance Gold Workshop in 2009.

Mance graduated from high school in 2010 and is now a student at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. In addition to his studies, he devotes his time to volunteer work and is also an active member of a chess club and a rock band. In the short term, he hopes to graduate from Duquesne’s professional pharmacy program. “I’m not sure what the future holds after that,” he notes. “But, the leadership skills I learned through my experiences with the PASC and the Keep It! Campaign will be critical to whatever path I travel.” The Keep It! Campaign is proud to honor Forrest Mance, a campaign champion who “Keeps It Going!”

To learn how to host a dodgeball tournament at your school, visit www.keepitcampaign.com/dodgeball

PASC Introduces a Dodgeball Tournament Contest to Support the Keep It! Campaign

Leave a reply

In January, we invited PASC members to celebrate the progress made in Ivory Park, South Africa through their support of the “Keep It!” Campaign. Since the project’s inception 18-months ago, an expanding network of social entrepreneurs has allowed us to make significant advances toward our goal. A library has been built, books are on the shelves, and we are funding the salaries of several fulltime teachers. We have raised half of our fundraising goal. As we look forward to continued progress in 2011, we would like to introduce an exciting year-long initiative inspired by several of our PASC member schools and organized by our regional representatives.

This year, PASC and “Keep It!” are sponsoring a statewide contest to challenge member schools to act locally and reach globally. With this contest, schools are invited to host dodgeball tournaments in support of the Keep It! Campaign. The tournament is based on a scalable, replicable project model first used by students at North Allegheny. With the assistance of NA students and staff, PASC and Keep It! supporters have developed a how-to manual that documents the secrets to planning a successful dodgeball tournament. This manual is now available to all PASC member schools.

In addition to presenting students with valuable lessons in leadership, the goal of the dodgeball project is to fund our continuing efforts in Ivory Park AND to support community needs in your own hometown. This concept is being modeled by one of our partner schools. At Oak Park Elementary, students have created a sunshine fund. Monies raised throughout the year are shared by the Oak Park and the Ivory Park communities. Support of the sunshine fund allows students and staff to care for their own neighbors while building connections with people thousands of miles away.

It is hoped that through Keep It! Dodgeball Tournaments, schools can provide support to their own communities and to Ivory Park. The details for the dodgeball tournament contest are as follows:

• Our goal is to recruit sixty schools to sponsor Keep It! Dodgeball Tournaments before October 15, 2011.

• Between January 15th and March 15th PASC will promote the tournament idea and recruit schools to register online at www.keepitcampaign.com/dodgeball.

Continue reading →

North Allegheny High School Students Plan It, Dodge It, and Keep It!

Leave a reply

“Our mission is to help build a community of hope in Ivory Park, South Africa. Helping us to reach our goal is a network of social entrepreneurs – people who work together to develop sustainable projects that will ultimately give the people of Ivory Park control over their lives and their future. The results of these efforts are measurable; the projects are sustainable; the outcomes are scalable; the models are replicable. ”

Bob Tryanski

At North Allegheny High School in Wexford, PA, students are social entrepreneurs. Through a recent dodgeball tournament, organizers of You throw it; I dodge it; They keep it! did more than just raise funds for the people of Ivory Park, South Africa. They also developed a scalable, replicable project model – a tangible template of success filled with clear-cut strategies that other schools can apply.

Akshaya Arjunan, currently a senior at North Allegheny, served on the planning committee for the dodgeball event. She was introduced to the concept of social entrepreneurship and the Keep It! Campaign while attending an Advanced Gold Workshop sponsored by the Pennsylvania Association of Student Councils. After learning about the hardships facing Ivory Park residents, Arjunan was inspired to take action. She encouraged a committee of classmates to act locally and reach globally by including Ivory Park as a beneficiary of the high school’s upcoming tournament. Committee members agreed, and with the Keep It! seed firmly planted, organizers got busy cultivating an event that would provide the perfect mix of fun and fund raising.

Patti Dzambo, student council adviser, notes that the committee, composed of twelve student council officers from both the intermediate and senior high schools, met on a weekly basis during the two months preceding the tournament. While developing and executing their plans, students focused on designing a blueprint that was measurable, scalable, and replicable. “By brainstorming and paying attention to the details, students learned to solve problems before they occurred,” says Dzambo. “They knew that if they were detailed and well organized, then the project could be duplicated the next year and the next. Their work raising money for worthy beneficiaries such as Keep It! would live on at North Allegheny High School and beyond.”

Tesin Gnalian, a recent graduate of North Allegheny, served as a cabinet head for the student council service committee in charge of organizing the event. Gnalian explains that she and her peers were excited about the opportunity to make a difference and acknowledges that organizing the tournament required time, patience, and teamwork on the part of everyone involved. Still, she believes that the end results made it all worthwhile. “We get so caught up in our own lives that we forget that there are people out there who need things that you and I take for granted – basic necessities like food and water,” she says. “We need to take a step back from our own lives and give to those who need our help. The Keep It! Campaign gave me and my peers the opportunity to make a commitment and to give back.”

The efforts of student planners and participants resulted in a successful tournament with 23 teams taking the court. And, while tournament play may have appeared to be all fun and games, the final score resulted in life-changing benefits for the people of Ivory Park. The $1,108 in event proceeds has already been used toward the completion of a working library in Ivory Park. In addition to providing a variety of books to school children, the library will also be the site for an intergenerational literacy program.

With the assistance of North Allegheny students and staff and PASC assistant director Kathy Coll, the secrets to planning a successful dodgeball tournament have been documented in a “how to” manual that will be available to schools in Pennsylvania and throughout the country. “The wonderful thing about North Allegheny’s contribution is the way in which they have provided us with a replicable project model that is supported with written materials that other organizations can follow,” says Bob Tryanski, Keep It! founder. “Look at the organizations that have had tremendous success mobilizing high school students to support their cause through special programs — organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics, or the American Cancer Society and their Relay for Life – and ask yourself what these organizations have in common. I think the answer is that each of them has an involvement template that any organization can follow. If other schools embrace the idea and implement the strategies outlined by the team at North Allegheny, the Dodgeball Tournament could turn out to be our Relay for Life. The possibilities are exciting!”

By providing a replicable project model, North Allegheny has achieved one of the hallmarks of social entrepreneurship. Keep It! encourages other schools to embrace the ideal and implement the strategies outlined by the team at North Allegheny. By working together to build a network of social entrepreneurs, there is no limit to the positive impact that students can create. . .in their own communities and across the globe in Ivory Park.