Hingham High Students Honored Before Red Sox Game

For the third straight year, HHS beat out the rest of the state to win Jordan's Furniture and the Red Sox Foundation’s “Double Play” campaign by collecting the most gently used baseball and softball equipment. 

On Tuesday night, HHS Assistant Principal Rick Swanson, along with seniors Julia McLaughlin, Eddie Bowler and Stephan White, were honored in a pre-game ceremony at Fenway Park before the Red Sox game against the Minnesota Twins. 

McLaughlin had been very active with the school's  Student Council and Green Committee while Bowler and White, who are co-captains of the baseball team, helped organize the equipment drive.

Swanson, who has coordinated the drive the last three years said the equipment will enable underprivileged children in Boston to play baseball and softball through the Rookie and RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) youth programs.

“We donated about 150 pieces of equipment, including gloves, bats, batting helmets, baseball cleats and catcher’s equipment (shin guards, masks and chest protectors),” Swanson said. 

In addition to being honored at America's most beloved ballpark, the high school will also receive  a $1,500 gift card  to Jordan’s Furniture for winning.

Swanson said the school is currently considering donating the gift card in an auction to benefit the One Fund Boston, but thasn’t made a final decision.

The money is intended for redecoration of the faculty room but  HHS already did that with the first prize in 2011.  Last year they donated the prize to the auction at “Gordo’s Gala.”

After HHS was announced the winner, local celebrity Eliot Tatelman of Jordan’s Furniture released the following statement:

“In this day and age of pay-to-play, there are thousands of kids that just cannot afford to play sports. We think that every youth should be able to enjoy America’s favorite pastime, so we created [this] program. With the help of the Red Sox Foundation [and many local schools] we’ll be able to reach a lot of inner-city kids in our area.”