Imagine twenty thousand glow sticks falling out the sky from a helicopter roaming over your head. Then it’s the countdown and go. This announcement will be the official start for the OHS Student Government’s new Glow event.
The Glow Committee of Stugo reports that Glow is an event to support the Phoenix Children’s Hospital where 20,000 glow sticks will be dropped from a helicopter onto the football field for boys and girls from all the high schools from DVUSD to pick up.
After six months of constant deliberation, the event will take place on the main football field on April 27 from 6 - 9p.m.
“The idea of glow is that everyone will be lined up outside the side line and once they are all on the ground everyone will be allowed to storm the field and pick up as many glow sticks as they can,” said Jordan Mette, a senior.
According to Mette, any high school student will be able to participate. Also anyone in the community can come as long as they pay $5 entrance fee. Stugo will not be inviting everyone in the community, but if people hear about it than they can always participate as long as they pay.
On the day of the event, “we are going to have a stage set up, there’ll be food trucks by the stage, and kids will be able to watch the performance and all the boys will go on the bleachers, the helicopter will hover, the glow sticks will drop and there will be a countdown where they will run and try to get as much as they can,” said Meghan Yahner, a junior.
What inspired Stugo was none other than the story of Katie Wagner from Boulder Creek High School who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last year.
“A lot of people don’t realized that there are a ton of kids from our district struggling with the same kind of situation where their lives are in danger and Phoenix Children’s Hospital is where they stay, and they have some of the of the best facilities there are but they have to turn kids away because they are so full all the time so we are hoping to help so that the people in our district don’t have to deal with the same thing,” Mette said.
Tanner Field, a senior, said that Christ Church of the Valley does a similar event every year and Stugo saw how successful CCV’s was so they thought that they could really get the school involved in this.
At the event, participants will be able to enjoy a free live performance by Colton Avery and food from a vendor trucks, according to Field.
According to Stugo, some of the glow sticks will be marked with tape and if you get one that is then you win a coordinating prize.
As for people who will be worried about not getting any prizes, “the prizes will be mixed around and they should be spread out so it’ll be hard to get many prizes but there is no [prize] limit, you just got to go for it,” said Marco Burgarello, a sophomore.
Burgarello mentioned that winners can win an iPod, camera, gift cards to different restaurants and stores and a bunch of other cool prizes.
All entrance fees and the food vendors will be giving Stugo 25% of the profits and all the money that they make from that will go to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital, according to Field.
Mette believes that the benefit will be that it’ll bring our district together like Mountain Ridge and Deer Valley High School and all the schools around the district, not to mention that the event is for charity.
“We are just hoping that a lot of people will buy into it and show up,” Field said.
Yahner said another benefit is getting more prizes donated, going around different businesses and telling them about it, and inviting other Stugos from other schools because they are invited to come and participate.
Burgarello would like to mention “if you have any donations, bring them to room 523.”