GCHS raises money for Japan relief efforts

As Major League Baseball and UNICEF have come together to raise money for the efforts in the Japan Earthquake/Tsunami relief, Grant County High School took their own action April 14, as they held an art auction and sporting events.

Matt Birkholtz

From left to right: Dominic Barth, Daniel Miller, Jacob Kinman, Sabrina Prince, Cory Gray and Emily Horton helped with the silent art auction to raise money for the American Red Cross and the Japan relief effort.

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Matt Birkholtz

Lady Braves freshman Emmalie Hankinson dives into first base during a game with Oldham County April 14. The Lady Braves played Simon Kenton April 18, defeating the Lady Pioneers 4-3 at Simon Kenton High School in Independence.

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Matt Birkholtz

Braves sophomore Ben Shipp went 4-for-4 with three doubles and a single versus Pendleton County April 14.

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One dollar of each gate entry, and the art auction raised $86, while teachers who wore jeans for a $1 raised $48 and the game admissions raised $77, for a total of $211.

“We hope to raise more by selling more artwork in school,” Melissa Wallace, GCHS’ media specialist, said.

Art teacher Emily Figeuora said that some of her students came to her with the idea.

“We wanted to do something art-based,” she said. “When the disaster in Japan occurred, we thought there was something we could do through art and to not just have an art night for us. My students were excited to make art for Japan and they donated some of their artwork, some more than one.”

Figeuora said that they went to athletic director Scott Shipp and asked him if they could get some help for raising money for the relief efforts and he told them that he would give some of the gate fee to their benefit.

“I think it was a great way to not only get Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) and to help the Red Cross and the efforts in Japan,” Daniel Miller, president of STLP, said.

Miller said STLP manipulated photos of patrons and instilled them onto magazine covers like Oprah Magazine and other popular publications. The group charged $2 for the photos.

Some of the other art pieces at the auction were friendship bracelets, lanyards, face painting and rock painting.
STLP, the National Honor Society and Figueora’s art class came together to help put on the auction.

“It was definitely something we could do and at our age to help,” Miller said.

On top of the art auction, both the Braves baseball team and Lady Braves’ softball team hosted home games. The Braves played Pendleton County and the Lady Braves played Oldham County.

In the Braves game, sophomore Ben Shipp led the way for Grant County going 4-for-4 on the night, with three doubles and a single, as the Braves defeated Pendleton County 16-5 in five innings.

“Lately, I have been hitting the ball,” he said. “We all have been a little streaky lately and I just hope to keep hitting the ball.”

Shipp said he made two fielding errors during the game and thanks his teammates for picking him up out on the field.

“If it wasn’t for them, it would not have happened,” he said. “I credit them for what I did today.”

More important for Shipp, was being able to support Japan.

“Truthfully it means a lot more to know that the money at the gate is not just going to us, but that it is going to help people in a time of need,” he said. “It’s humanitarian. We stand for more than the game and I think we did that.”

In the Lady Braves game, the outcome was not quite as happy an ending as the Braves game.

With a 7-5 lead going to the top of the seventh inning, senior pitcher Katelyn Roy allowed two runs to come in, tying the game at seven.

Grant County wasn’t able to muster any runs in the bottom of the inning and was forced into an international tiebreaker.

The rules state that in an international tiebreaker, the team on offense gets a runner on second base to start the inning. If they score, the home team gets one last attempt to tie or win the game.

Roy allowed two more runs in the top of the eighth, to give Oldham County a 9-7 lead that would end up and be the final.

A bright spot for the Lady Braves however, was the hitting of sophomore outfielder Samantha Perry, who hit two home runs in the game.

When asked about where the power was coming from, all Perry could do was shrug her shoulders and said that it is random.

Even though the Lady Braves lost, Perry was happy to see the teams contribute to the relief effort.

“It was really nice,” she said. “My art class contributed to the night as well. Softball and baseball helped a lot too.”