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In Quest to raise $250,000 at Upcoming Frigid Friday, Anne Arundel County School System Draws Plenty of Inspiration

Last January the Anne Arundel County School System led the way in fundraising at the second annual Frigid Friday Plunge, a dip designed exclusively for high school and middle school students in Maryland that took place at Sandy Point State Park in AA County. Whether it was home-pool advantage or just the pride of edging out the competition in an event that took place right in these students’ backyard, the result was the same – a great effort by the 12 Anne Arundel County public and private schools, that raised over $109,000 for Special Olympics Maryland.

This year, though, anticipating some increased competition from other local school systems, the group is raising both its fundraising goal and its expectations. Between now and Jan. 27, 2012, the Anne Arundel County School System will be working towards a combined goal of $250,000 in contributions for Special Olympics Maryland, raised from among its participating schools.

The race to $250,000 - which was finalized and agreed-upon by a county-wide planning committee - is spearheaded by a pair of Anne Arundel schools, Arundel High and South River High. Between them, the two schools raised a combined $65,000 in 2011. The team hopes to add other schools in 2012, and has already received interest from Severna Park, Old Mill, North County and Broadneck High Schools, according to Doug Brown, the senior class advisor at South River High and the school’s Frigid Friday coordinator.

Carolyn Plitt, a senior at Arundel High School, attended the meeting when the goal was agreed upon and recalls the moment she first heard about the bold, but very attainable figure. “I thought to myself, ‘Oh my gosh, I know we can do it!’”

And while AACPS does indeed have that home-field advantage, the real reason for their affinity for this event has nothing to do with location and everything to do with the students within the schools.

“I think the draw for Anne Arundel high schools [to Frigid Friday] is because of the connections with the students that Special Olympics serves,” Brown said. “Most of our high schools have special needs students in them. Programs such as Frigid Friday and Best Buddies inspire students to get involved in a way that will be beneficial to those classmates [with disabilities] that they interact with everyday.”

Plitt agrees. The senior is the team captain of the Arundel High School team, and in addition, serves as president of the local Best Buddies program, an organization which provides friendships, employment and leadership development for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Last year Plitt, 17, said Arundel High raised $40,000 and had 400 participants; they are hoping to raise those numbers to $50,000 and 500 participants this January.

“The Plunge has pushed out this idea that everyone is equal,” Plitt said. “When our class was going over reasons to Plunge, one of the main reasons mentioned was that ‘these students [with intellectual disabilities] deserve the same opportunities that we have in sports.’”

We have kids in our class who are Special Olympics swimmers and skiers. And their other classmates had no idea about their participation before Frigid Friday. When they found out, they were going up to these kids and high-fiving them. It was really sweet.”

Gina Davenport, the assistant principal at Arundel High School, has an ever deeper connection to the cause - one that traces to her family.
On Saturday, March 24, 2007 - her birthday - Davenport says her understanding and passion for the cause jumped to a whole level when her brother and his wife welcomed a newborn daughter, Chloe, into the world. Chloe was born with Down syndrome and required life-saving surgery to correct a birth defect in her digestive tract associated with a genetic disorder. As Chloe was extensively hospitalized at Johns Hopkins Hospital for a respiratory infection, the family formed a nonprofit, Chloe’s Cause, to raise money and awareness for individuals and families facing the challenges of Down syndrome.

With Chloe on her mind, Davenport immediately expressed interest and support for Frigid Friday when the idea was pitched to her in 2009.

After receiving permission from the school’s principal, Sharon Stratton, Arundel High formed its own team in 2010. Stratton even made a bet that if Arundel High raised $10,000 and had 200 members on its team, she would plunge. She would later have to pay off that bet.

“We were on a mission at that point,” Davenport said. “Not only did the student body want Mrs. Stratton to Plunge, they wanted to set new records. Members kept joining and the graphs kept growing. Teams were growing. And Mrs. Stratton was getting donation after donation from central office school officials. Suddenly, Arundel HS was the number one Cool School.”

Davenport added that on the first snowy Frigid Friday in 2010, Chloe’s Cause provided breakfast and fleece hats for the Plungers. Chloe even accompanied the nine buses from Arundel to Sandy Point.

“The excitement of the day kept us all warm as we ran into the Bay”, she said. “It was one of the highlights of my career.”

If Anne Arundel County can raise a quarter of a million dollars in 2012, she - and everyone else associated with the team - will have a whole new highlight to celebrate. And so will the athletes of Special Olympics Maryland.

About Frigid Friday:
Held the day before the traditional MSP Polar Bear Plunge, the Frigid Friday Plunge, is open only to students from high schools and middles schools throughout Maryland, offering them an exclusive experience that can more easily accommodate large groups of students. By limiting this event to just school teams the students enjoy the spotlight for a day, and it also makes for easier transportation, parking and crowd control and offers all of the Plunge fun but in an alcohol-free environment. The 3rd Annual Frigid Friday Plunge is expected to host as many as 4,000 students from around the region.

The event also offers demonstrations of Unified Sports®, a long-standing Special Olympics program that combines students with and without intellectual disabilities on the same sports team; as well as information on anti-bullying initiatives and Spread The Word To End The Word ®. In 2011, Frigid Friday hosted 54 schools and raised more than $208,000.

Photo Captions, from first photo in article to last:

• Arundel High: A shot of the Arundel High Plunge team in front of their high school.
• A group of Arundel High students at Sandy Point State Park.
• Carolyn Plitt, a current senior at Arundel High, and Chloe Coccia, the inspiration behind Chloe’s Cause, at the school before Frigid Friday.
• A group of South River High students huddle up before their dip.