Rise Above Happenings

Hi, everyone! I’d like to introduce the Patch readers to Rise Above. We’re in the midst of our seventh year as a community based student leadership group; time flies! Rise above offers high school students the opportunity to learn and apply leadership skills by hosting a variety of events for the school and community. Basically, we’re a group of creative, motivated, high-spirited high school students determined and excited to be an integral part of the Ellington community. Rise Above is funded, in part, by a federal grant for the prevention of underage drinking and is a sub-group of the Council for Developing Positive Youth Culture (DPYC).

For those of you who have seen us around the community running events such as dodgeball tournaments, Fall Festival, and Kid’s Fair, you'd probably recognize us by our bright green logo and “Be The Change” slogan. After seven years, we’ve decided it’s time to switch things up a bit—check out our new logo and slogan in the photos above! As a group, we desire to “start the ripple”—to act as leaders in the community and, in turn, encourage others to do the same.

We’ve had a very busy year so far. In late August, we ran a bonfire to welcome the incoming freshman into high school, and it was a huge success. Last weekend we ran our 3^rd annual Fall Festival at Brookside Park in conjunction with Ellington Parks and Recreation. 50 young families enjoyed a sunny fall day filled with pumpkin and face painting, hay rides, music by Paul Recker, and lots of smiles. Last night was our famous EHS dodgeball tournament in which 15 teams participated and played their hearts out in hopes to be crowned champion. A team of senior boys, Bird’s OMLETT, came out with the victory. As always, it was an extremely exciting night!

Our upcoming events include the EMS dodgeball tournament, which is scheduled to be on December 8^th, Game Night, and a Community Variety Show (we’ll be looking for talent, so start practicing!).

Know a high school student who’s interested in joining Rise Above? Have an idea for an event that you think Rise Above would like to run? Great! Email me at alarew@comcast.net and let me know. Watch the blog for upcoming events and Rise Above news!