Dodgeball tournament a hit

The ATI (Above The Influence) members at Ferri Middle School held a Dodgeball Tournament on Tuesday, May 16, with teams of teachers and students participating.

“It was a great success.  The kids and teachers were all in attendance and truly enjoyed themselves,” said Director of Youth Prevention at Tri-County Community Action Agency, who coordinates the Johnston Prevention Coalition. “We raised a lot of money considering it was a dodgeball tournament. We had 16 teams of teachers and students who entered.”

Funded by a grant, Sweet helped create a strategic plan where high school students would mentor the ATI group. She believed it would be a good idea to those students mentor the ATI in raising funds for future sustainability. There were several Students Against Destructive Decisions who volunteered to participate in this mentoring project and worked with the middle school ATI students to create, plan and follow through with this chosen event to raise funds.

“Everyone, including the teachers, are talking about next year’s tournament which was my goal from the get go. To have this one be a success so we can hold this every year for the students to look forward to,” said Sweet.

The event’s winning team was called the Dodgefathers. Pictured are (front line) Joe Dominico, Dimetri Iafrate, Jonathan D’Angelo, Joey Acciardo, (back line) Ryan Schino, Deovante Omari, and Isaiah DeBritto.