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Community Corner

Lights Out For Dancing With the Spartans

No one wanted to see it end.  Oak Lawn Community High School’s Dancing with the Spartans took its final steps on April 11, 2014, with an all-star cast of alumni, teachers, students, and professional dancers from the Fred Astaire Dance Studio.  Per tradition, teachers and students dedicated their time and hearts to dance lessons and fundraising to fight Duchenne, a form of muscular dystrophy that math teacher Shannon DeMatteo’s son Jack was diagnosed with at a young age. 

Highlights of the night included an alumni opening dance comprised of dancers from the last five years, a second performance in Dancing with the Spartans by Jeremey Cryan, who awed the audience both with his grace and his crowd-cheering worm, and a closing Paso Doble by Dancing with the Spartans founder and dancer Eileen Jones with Fred Astaire professional Caleb Aleman.

This year’s dancers included math teachers Tammy Tyeptanar and Jeremey Cryan, English teacher Jenn Jepsen, art teacher Jen Wargin, counselor Marcus Wargin, and students Bella Ibarra, Andrea Pacetti, Mike Felton and Kyle Kuzur. Marcus and Jen Wargin snared the mirror ball trophy and Jenn Jepsen broke the record for money raised for Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) with over $3,400 in donations.  The professional dancers from Fred Astaire added class to the evening with their talent and charity to Oak Lawn Community High School and PPMD.  This dedicated group of professionals, teachers and students raised $14,738 by the end of the evening, with an overall five-year total of $86,582 for Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy. Student dancer Kyle Kuzur said, “It was an awesome time bonding with the teachers and seeing a different side of them.”

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Senior Class Advisor Eileen Jones dims the lights on the event this year, but perhaps the school can look forward to a reprise one day?  The $100,000 year?  Stay tuned.

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