Highland Park High School’s charity drive in full swing
February 6, 2012 7:46PM
2/4/2012 Highland Park Didier Hernadez of the band "JKZ" performs during the 10th Annual Battle of the Bands fundraiser at Highland Park High School on Saturday, February 4, 2012. Proceeds from the fundraiser will be given to the Leukemia Research Foundation. | michael jarecki ~ for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 10, 2012 8:19AM
Highland Park High School’s annual Charity Drive is now in full swing, as students already have packed several fund-raising events into the first week of the month-long effort.
Friday night, a silent auction was held with a Derrick Rose autographed poster leading the prize pool. Other hot items included a guitar, senior lot parking spots, locker locations for next school year and tickets to the MTV music awards or the Dr. Oz television show.
An art bazaar, buffalo wings eat-a-thon contest and 24-hour charity run also were held Friday night to benefit this year’s Charity Drive recipient, the Leukemia Research Foundation.
The top wing eater was senior Joey Smith, who beat out junior Parker Rijos, sophomore Jack Lieber and freshman Charlie Mintz.
Those HPHS students who didn’t ingest mass amounts of wings teamed up to run 243 miles on the indoor track during the annual 24-hour run that spanned Friday to Saturday morning.
The Battle of the Bands contest took center stage on Saturday night with six student groups jamming for the crown during 20-minute sets. The winner was The Kick Brass Band, which earned the right to also perform in front of the entire HPHS student body at the Charity Drive closing assembly on March 16.
The Kick Brass Band features Richard Dodd on baritone saxophone, Sam Dunn on alto sax, Ari Krumbein and Izzy Yellen on trumpet, Max Schwartz on mellophone, Nathan Blane on trombone, Scott Beck playing bass and Josh Elder on drums. The winning band was selected by a panel of faculty and student judges.
“I am in awe of how talented these six bands were,” said Bill MacFarlane, Highland Park High School’s alternative learning community instructor, who sponsored the contest. ”They were great. Though we call it Battle of the Bands and declare a winner, it is really about these six bands donating their time to play a 20-minute set and helping raise money for the Highland Park High School Charity Drive and the Leukemia Research Foundation.
With close to 200 people in attendance, the Battle of the Bands raised more than $1,000 for the cause.
This week’s festivities were headlined by Mahjongg Madness, tape principal Brad Swanson to the wall, a pancake breakfast, Taste of HP and the Mama Mia dance marathon.
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