On Mar. 11, students from the upper school and Unified Committee took part in the Polar Plunge. The Polar Plunge is a series of events that happen around Minnesota with the overall goal of raising money for Special Olympics Minnesota, an organization that supports individuals with intellectual disabilities with sports training and competition. How the event works is you first register and set your fundraising goal, then you can ask friends and family to join your team. The next step is fundraising, which consists of asking friends and family to donate to your team. Then comes the fun, the Plunge, where participants jump into freezing cold water to celebrate all the money that they fundraised.
In past years, the participation from upper schoolers for this event has been low, but middle schoolers have been good about participating. Darian Mehra ‘23, one of the chairs of the Community Service Board and a leader of the Unified Committee says, “With the underclassmen this year they have shown good face, a lot of our plungers this year are underclassmen.” He continues, “Charley Bowles [‘26] is leading the pack at $1,039.”
Mehra explains that “[W]e also get to keep 50% of our fundraising to invest back into Blake Unified events, so that’s a cool thing we get to do as a school. Not all organizations get to do that, most just give it all.” This money that they get to invest back into their club helps them plan future events. Mehra explains, “It’s a bit of networking and leg work on your part to help raise funds for not only our team and our school but also Special Olympics Minnesota.” He continues, “All those different ways to fundraise is the cool part of this whole thing. The Polar Plunge [is] Special Olympics Minnesota’s biggest fundraiser.”
Mehra comments that in addition to raising money, Special Olympics Minnesota also pushes, “to support those Special Olympic athletes and their endeavors, whatever [that] might be.” Mehra also says, “My goal in general for any Unified event is to spread awareness for athletes and people who have intellectual disabilities and spread inclusion for them.”
