Ravenwood High School students hope the greater community remembers how much fun it is to play dodge ball and to watch kick ball, since two events are coming up that feature both playground games.

The first-ever “Dodge a Ball and Save a Life” tournament kicks off Saturday, Nov. 14, at 10 a.m. For a $2 donation, you can join students, faculty and friends of students as they remember Ravenwood classmates Charlton Cratz and Deriana Rivera and help raise money for the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society.

Cratz and Rivera both lost their battles with cancer earlier this year. The two students would have been juniors this year. Event organizers Rachel Jain and Ali McCowan, both seniors, said they were looking for a way to honor their friends’ memories.

“The school was impacted by both of their deaths and the fact that they happened so close together left the students feeling such a major sense of loss,” Jain said. “We started looking for ideas on ways to fundraise and this seemed a perfect fit.”

Jain and McCowan have put a lot of effort in organizing the event and hope the community will come out to support a worthy cause.

“As parents we are touched to know that our son is being remembered,” Tammy Cratz, Charlton’s mother, said. “Charlton was a trooper through all of it and I try to capture his spirit and have some of his same courage in facing life without him.”

Charlton, a tennis player and class clown who had a way of charming people, died six months ago with leukemia.

Deriana lost her battle in January 2009, also from leukemia.

“Deriana was strong, loving, always open to friends,” friend Kailee Milne shared. “She wanted us to know that she was the person whose shoulder you could lean on. There is just so much to say about my friend.”

Kailee said she remembers Deriana saying, "Nothing is more important than your health and family, without that there is nothing.”

“These quotes inspired a lot of us, coming from a girl who had such a difficult battle to fight, to think that she kept such a positive attitude through out it all,” Kailee said.

So far, 28 teams have signed on to participate in Saturday’s tournament being held at the high school.  Teams are still being accepted for a $100 registration fee. Admission to watch is $2 per person and all proceeds from the event will go to the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society. Food for the event has generously been donated by Subway.

For more information, e-mail RJain@yahoo.com or StephanieD@wcs.edu.

Kickball tournament lets special ed students be the stars
And on Thursday, Nov. 19, the third annual Ravenwood Kickball Tournament will get under way at 9 a.m. It is a special event put on for the special education departments at Ravenwood and surrounding schools.

The athletes are the special education students themselves, with the help of their peers (student volunteers). The student volunteers are there to encourage, give direction, and help with any tricky plays when needed. The event also gives the student volunteers a chance to interact and form friendship with students they normally don’t encounter in the average school day but to also form friendships with them.

The event includes an opening ceremony, kickball games and lunch for the players.

This year’s Ravenwood student section is also stepping up its game. The Raptors’ cheerleading squad will be present throughout the whole event as well.

More information on the kickball tournament will be announced next week.