STORY OLIVIA WILSON | INTERVIEWS CAMDEN BRADEN | PHOTOGRAPHY COLIN KUNZ

The Lakota East Student Leadership Team, started by assistant principal Katrina Fugate in 2022, hosted their first Annual Student vs. Faculty Basketball game on Friday, Dec. 8. Tickets for the event were sold to the student body during lunch last week at $1 a piece, with all proceeds, totaling $748, being donated to the Judy Buckenmyer Foundation. Buckenmeyer was a well-respected and loved math teacher who attended and supported many school and community activities, programs, and events. She passed away suddenly in June of 2020. 

“It was just a dollar. We didn’t ask for a whole lot,” Fugate told Spark. “We just wanted to keep it in the back of people’s minds that giving to people is a good thing.”

East sophomore Brayden Reinhart touched on how the publicity of the students vs. staff game brings a lot of attention to the foundation. He says it is something that brings people together and makes them want to get involved.

“This game brings awareness to the foundation as a whole. A lot of people are here and even though it only was one dollar it adds up to a lot of money,” Reinhart told Spark. “That adds a lot to the foundation and in general brings awareness. It also brings our whole school and community together.”

East senior and Student Leadership Team member Gabe Gambetta says he loves seeing people helping each other out and going above and beyond to help raise funds. 

“We even had 50’s and 20’s coming in when people would buy one or two tickets. It’s a good thing to see people helping each other out,” Gambetta told Spark. “I saw many tickets being gifted to each other; I saw people donate a bunch of money. It was a great cause and a great event, and I love that we did this.”

East Varsity Boys’ Basketball head coach Clint Adkins was one of the players on the staff team. He enjoyed the community that the event built. 

“I like to beat the students in anything they put us up against,” Adkins told Spark. “It’s also fun and I think our students love seeing staff members who sometimes they only see in the classroom do things that they’re skilled at or have fun with.”

East Varsity Football offensive coordinator and staff member Jordan Kitna also competed against the students in the game. 

“Kids have been talking about it for over a month about how they’re gonna beat us,” Kitna told Spark. “It’s great, I love the atmosphere and it’s been a lot of fun.”

Fugate, along with many other teachers and staff members have led the Student Leadership Team in planning this event. The purpose was to not only give back to the community, but also form a stronger community within the school building. 

“We created groups within the student leadership team and one of them was pride. We wanted to bring back some student pride and pride within our school culture. After covid it was difficult to get back,” Fugate says. “Not as many people would go to games or be involved. This was a way to try and do that.”

While the faculty won handily, the both teams were all in it for the game. Adkins encouraged the idea of student and teacher comradery. 

“Absolutely, anything you can do like this to get the student body together, staff and students going against each other,” Adkins says. “It only builds positivity and builds a good school culture for sure.”

Staff Roster: 

Coaches: Jaila Robinson, Enzo Tchetgnia, Trey Perry

Clint Adkins 

Tristan Philpot

Jordan Harvey

Nikki Drew

Kyle Vanderhorst

Kate Harlemos

Rob Burnside

Dan Wallace

Todd Hummer

Jordan Kitna

Matt MacFarlane

Brett Mustain 

Justin Dennis

Student Roster: 

Coaches: Ryan Barone, Celina Blount, LJ Holloway

Carson Hill

Gabe Gambetta

Austin Hinchberger

Hamza Ibrayghith

Mya Fitzpatrick

Hailey Still

Alyssa Cleland

Ethan Kmieske

Caroline King

Justin Stidham

Blake Furnish

Judi Sakpo