|
Ezra Schwier As a student athlete and a fan of all sports, I know how much of an impact fans can have on a game. As a member of the tennis team, our sport does not get a lot of fan turnout or student interaction, which is understandable. However, my group members (Madix Johnson and Matthew Barada) and I are determined to change that and boost school spirit. We want to recognize ALL sports to give ALL athletes the feeling that our football and basketball teams experience on a weekly basis. We will be promoting all sporting events through Gameday graphics using Box Out Sports, NPSN (New Palestine Sports Network), and Twitter pages. NPSN will be our bigger project as it will be a 2-5 minute weekly video show where we will highlight scores, player highlights, and promote upcoming sporting events.
|
Let's Go Dragons !!
PITCH DAY
Pitch Day went extremely well for us as our ideas and project were well received by administrators and staff. They loved that we wanted to increase exposure for all sports and felt that the possibilities for projects were endless. They presented us with ideas to incentivize students at sporting events and ways that we can increase student turnout, especially at home games. A big part of what we want to do is leave a lasting legacy for the classes that come after us, so they can carry this project on and transform our student body into a positive and involved group of kids.
Progress and Problems
We began selling our Dragon Nation shirts that get students into any Senior Night or Homecoming FREE, for any sport, all year. We sold a lot of shirts and gave away about the same amount to those who had already purchased All sports passes. The process went smoothly with help from the athletic office who stored our money and shirts. With a couple of senior nights and one Homecoming game, the shirts has successfully been utilized to enter games free of charge.
Along with our t-shirt sales, we have created Gameday graphics for our fall sports. This has helped promote our sporting events in an attempt to increase fan turnout. These graphics do not take much time and are an effective way of promotion.
One problem we had was with our new NPSN segment, NPSN In the Halls. We shot a video asking our quarterback, Damon Hockett, random trivia questions. This was a 2-3 minute video that we posted on the NPSN Twitter and received good feedback. However, the students in the video had their masks down so we were asked to remove the video in order to not cause problems between community members and the administration.
Along with our t-shirt sales, we have created Gameday graphics for our fall sports. This has helped promote our sporting events in an attempt to increase fan turnout. These graphics do not take much time and are an effective way of promotion.
One problem we had was with our new NPSN segment, NPSN In the Halls. We shot a video asking our quarterback, Damon Hockett, random trivia questions. This was a 2-3 minute video that we posted on the NPSN Twitter and received good feedback. However, the students in the video had their masks down so we were asked to remove the video in order to not cause problems between community members and the administration.
Challenges led to Collaboration
As we were planning to shoot our NPSN videos, we did not have any convenient ways to film. We did not have a tripod nor did we have microphones do give us quality sound. Mr. Large was gracious enough to order us those products. However, they did not exactly come in quickly and we did not have much to do while in class. Our classmates and friends, Elizabeth Voelz, Katie Kleiman, and Alyse Rickey, asked us if we would like to help them stain a fence at the Hope House homeless shelter in Greenfield. The setbacks of receiving our needs allowed us to assist our friends in doing a service project for the Hope House and we really enjoyed the project. However, we are eager to begin filming NPSN videos.
NPSN Progress Finally, we were able to film our first episode of NPSN. Each week, we write the script on Monday and Tuesday including the scores from the weekend and the upcoming schedule for our sports teams. We then film on our long day, Wednesday, where we have either been at a desk in a conference room or walking throughout the gym, natatorium, or wrestling room, respectively giving the scores/schedule for each team. We also highlight the theme for the big game of the week (Football on Friday nights or Basketball on Fri/Sat). Each episode, we have got more and more comfortable and have tried to incorporate comedic aspects of the show. It is our goal to give exposure to each sports team and make every athlete feel valued and appreciated. The next step of the process is editing the video. Matthew has been our main editor which he has done through iMovie. He adds comedic effects and adds the scores from the week onto the screen. We then post on Twitter on Friday. Madix, Matthew, and I wanted to add another aspect to NPSN with "NPSN In the Halls". For our first episode, we interviewed Coach Ralph and quizzed him with trivia questions. This is a short, funny video segment to give students something to watch during the school day.
Second Semester As the second semester began, we reflected on our project and if we wanted to continue with it, amend it, or go in a new direction. We decided to amend our project and make shorter clips highlighting our athletes, as opposed to 2-3 minute videos. We made this decision because we feel shorter clips will be watched more and give our athletes more exposure. These videos will include Sports Roundups, Highlights/Fails, and the NPSN Player of the Week. A new segment we are adding is a weekly hype video from Mr. Voelz to get our students to come support the basketball team. Our main goal is to increase student turnout at sporting events to show support for our student athletes. https://twitter.com/npsportsnetwork/status/1487124811054829577?s=21
Hoops for Hope A few groups within the class are teaming up to create a special night for a boy in our community who is battling cancer. We are going to use this night as a fundraiser and give all of the funds raised to the family, who need help with paying medical bills and all the other expenses that come with this challenge. The main way we are going to raise funds is through raffling gift baskets. We distributed different restaurants and businesses amongst each other and made calls to these businesses asking if they would donate gift cards, baskets, etc. to our cause. We have had great success so far and have received a lot of support from local small businesses as well as restaurant chains. Another way of fundraising will be through "Chuck-a-duck" during the Varsity game. We will also be selling t-shirts that are personalized to support the boy from our community and the student section theme will be "Spider-Man", who is the boy's favorite superhero. The most important factor to accomplish our goals for the night is to delegate different responsibilities. Everyone has an important role and piecing it all together will make for a magical night.
Hoops for Hope... Success! |
Hoops for Hope night finally came and we were prepared. We showed up early to set up, decorate, and get all of the logistical details figured out. A little before 6 o'clock was when the first crowd of people came in and more and more people became intrigued by the raffle basket opportunities as well as purchased t-shirts. Madix and I sold all 200 of our ducks and profited around $150 for the Eyerman family. Andrew was the honorary 6th man for the Dragons and was present on FaceTime during introductions. It was very cool to see the applause and reaction as he was announced and I can only imagine how excited he was to be a part of the special night. Everyone stepped up and showed initiative through this whole process and collaborated well with one another to pull this night off. If we could go back, we would probably get all of the big stuff done early and use the week before to figure out the more minute details. All in all, we were able to raise around $4,000 for the Eyerman family through the support of local businesses and the New Palestine and Shelbyville communities. This was a magical night and hopefully a tradition of helping a family in need will continue in the years to come.
|
Final Project(s)
For one of my final projects, I was in charge of promoting the inaugural Boys vs. Girls Volleyball match. This served as a fundraiser for both programs and we did not charge students for admission to increase student turnout. Between the second and third set, a serving game was organized with a chance to win prizes. You would pay $1 to serve and if you hit a t-shirt or bag of candy, you won it. There were also 2 raffle opportunities of tumblers, t-shirts, and candy. I see this as becoming a tradition and a great way to raise money for both programs.
Additionally, as the school year is coming to an end and the Class of 2022 is about to finish their high school careers, Madix Johnson, Matthew Barada, and I are trying to organize activities for the senior class. We are wanting to create opportunities for the class to make some final memories together. These activities may include a cookout, a big kickball game, slip 'n slide, a campout, and more.
Additionally, as the school year is coming to an end and the Class of 2022 is about to finish their high school careers, Madix Johnson, Matthew Barada, and I are trying to organize activities for the senior class. We are wanting to create opportunities for the class to make some final memories together. These activities may include a cookout, a big kickball game, slip 'n slide, a campout, and more.