ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP — According to the American Heart Association, while one in eight American women die of breast cancer, one in three women die from cardiovascular disease. Nearly 60 million Americans suffer from heart disease today, and each year 700,000 Americans have a new or repeat stroke. This year, Edgewood Senior High School is partnering with the American Heart Association to make a difference and show their heart.
Edgewood will be hosting their very first Red-Out game, a fund-raiser to benefit cardiovascular disease research for the American Heart Association. The RED OUT (Recognize-Educate-Dedicate-Orchestrate-Understand-Teach) game will be held during Edgewood’s regular season game against Jefferson on Dec. 18 starting at 6 p.m. junior varsity game and 7:30 p.m. varsity game. There will be information on a healthy heart lifestyle and free blood-pressure screenings for those in attendance. All proceeds will benefit the American Heart Association.
This cause is very significant to members of Edgewood, especially Christina Fischer, Edgewood athletic manager, whose father has lived with heart disease for most of his adult life. “He had his first heart attack when I was in the third grade, in 1980, and has had several more since then,” said Fischer. ”Every time we go to the Cleveland Clinic, the advancements and technologies they have there are just amazing and overwhelming thanks to the research in the cardiovascular field, most of which are funded by the AHA.”
If you would like to do your part to help, donate $10 to the AHA and receive your “Rock The Beat,” T-shirt from the AHA and wear it to the Red-Out game. For more information or T-shirt orders, contact Steve Kray, athletic director, at Edgewood Senior High School or reach him at 998-1413. Tickets to the game cost $6 for adults and $4 for students.
Also new this year will be Edgewood’s first alumni basketball game. In order to honor alumni and get them more involved in the school, all alumni basketball players will be invited back to Edgewood to hit the courts once again in an alumni vs. alumni basketball game.
The festivities will start Dec. 28 during halftime at Edgewood’s regular season game against Pymatuning Valley when all alumni in attendance will be honored at half court. The next night at 7 p.m., alumni will be invited to play a game vs. other alumni as a fund-raiser for Edgewood’s Athletic Department.
“Depending on attendance, we’ll go as long as they (alumni) want to,” Kray said.
The reception for the game has been incredible. “Mr. Kray has been very proactive on starting new traditions this year by keeping the bonds of past graduates rooted here at Edgewood,” said Fischer.
The Music Department at Edgewood is busy preparing for the holidays. The choir and band have all been working hard on preparing their winter programs for the 2012 holiday season. Choir and Soundsations director, George Kirby, has put together four acts for the winter concert that will take place on Dec. 10. Three concert choir groups as well as the Edgewood Warrior Soundsations will be performing their winter shows that night. Soundsations will be doing a similar show to the one from “Pops, Pizzazz and All That Jazz,” with two additions. “Frosty the Snowman” and the traditional “Carol of the Bells” will join their program that evening. The first concert choir will perform holiday inspired songs such as, “Wish you the Merriest,” “Good Christian Men Rejoice” and “Christmas Bell Celebration.” The second concert choir will perform “Go Tell it On the Mountain,” “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “Deck the Hall.” The final group that evening will consist of all choir members and they will sing “Believe,” from the popular Holiday movie, Polar Express, and “I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In,” an a cappella piece. Finally, Edgewood alumni will be invited up onto the stage to sing “O Holy Night,” a tradition that the choir has done since 1998.
On Dec. 17, the Edgewood Symphonic Wind Ensemble will take the stage. The group will perform four pieces that evening, in addition to the Jazz Ensembles playing that night. Auditions for concert band have been going on for the past two weeks. Students are asked to play music they have never seen before as their audition. The songs start out simple, and progressively get more difficult.
Director Connie Sommers said, “Auditions are a time consuming process, but an accurate picture of what the students know and what they still need to learn.”
Both concerts begin at 6:30 p.m. and are free to the public. Please join us!
