On 17 December, 2014, the school club MGCI United Way hosted a friendly student-teacher dodgeball game to fundraise. Tickets had been sold in the galleria from 8-12 December, as well as on the day of. Tickets costed $2.00 to play or watch. All in all, they saw 15 students and 20 teachers participating. There were also approximately thirty spectators. All proceeds will be donated to United Way, a mother charity to organizations across the GTA such as the Red Cross.

The event took place at lunch in the gymnasium, lasting for half an hour. Participating teachers included Ms. Woods, Mr. Priebe-Nizar, Mr. Graham, Mr. Pearce, and Mr. Chrisopoulos, Mr. Jay and Ms. Goldenberg. Four games were played in total.three being won by the students.

Students and Teachers played dodgeball during lunch to support United Way. Photo: Valiant Chan

Students and Teachers played dodgeball during lunch to support United Way. Photo: Valiant Chan

Students were thrilled at being given an excuse to compete against their teachers, gleefully pelting them with dodgeballs. “My favorite part was getting to throw dodgeballs at our teachers… Especially the ones that give me bad marks,” joked Grade 12 student Hadi Qarizada. Participants were generally very happy with the games and thoroughly enjoyed them.

However, there were a few hitches. Participants were uncertain about the rules during the first game. Some played by King’s Court rules; others thought that they were playing with elimination rules. The confusion was cleared up after that game: the next two games were played as King’s Court, the last as elimination.

Other minor complaints included having crowded courts and the fact that students were not allowed to eat their lunch in the gymnasium. Finally, the student turnout was limited as the dodgeball game took place during Spirit Week. Many students were participating in activities run by the Student Activity Council or participating in music class performances in the cafeteria instead.

“I had a lot of fun, it was a blast playing…And getting a chance to throw balls at students is a rare opportunity,” pointed out teacher participant Mr. Pearce. “We teachers are coming for revenge in winter 2015, so the students had better watch out,” he chuckled.