THOUGHTS FROM OUR HEAD OF SCHOOL, JOE VORBACH:
This is the time of year, just before the Superdance assembly, when faculty and staff who are alumni are asked to recall their Superdance memories. As an alumnus now almost 35 years removed from graduation, I don't have an abundance of specific memories. I remember that as a member of the Student Council, I was working with a very motivated group of students that wanted to be remembered in O'Connell history for doing a good job on Superdance...and of course, to beat the Class of 1982's pledge total. I remember the form we used to receive pledges by the hour...ten cents/hour; 25 cents/hour.
I also remember being involved in a committee focused on getting celebrities to come out to the dance and encourage the dancers. I learned a lot of lessons about networking and persistence from that exercise. The 1983 yearbook reminds us that a big highlight was a visit and dance performance by the "Redskinettes," something I did not remember until I looked in the yearbook.
I remember the gym feeling full, it being hot and humid, and everyone seeming to have a sense of the value of what they were doing. This continued as we worked hard in the weeks after the dance to collect all the pledged money. We collected $34,000 in the spring of 1983. That would be about $85,000 in today's dollars. It is very heartening that the efforts of students during the nine years I have worked in the school have yielded, on average, about $120,000 a year toward finding a cure for cystic fibrosis.
As our student committees go through the ramp-up for this year's Superdance, the community keeps Danny Bessette '02, Jason Cage '95 and Walter Whitt '16 in its prayers. These gentlemen, all courageous fighters living with cystic fibrosis, are well known to our students and our entire community and they continue to provide inspiration to all of us daily. Next Friday, as we hold the annual Superdance kickoff assembly, they, and all who live with cystic fibrosis, will be especially in our prayers. I ask all of you to pray for them as well.
For those new to our community, next Friday'sassembly is a critical jumping off point for us to build energy, enthusiasm and action in the student body for the cause that motivates Superdance -- the search for a cure to cystic fibrosis! The assembly happens about a month before the actual dance and during that month students register for the dance and set out to secure commitments from family, friends and neighbors. By Easter, God willing, the efforts of our students will result in us adding at least another $120,000 to the more than $4 million that has been raised at Bishop O'Connell over the past 42 years.