C.S. Porter Middle School Principal Ty Solberg received an ice bucket shower outdoors on the playground on a windy and frigid Friday afternoon to honor students who raised money to build a well in the South Sudan, Africa.

Solberg and Instruction Coach Joy Brooke spoke with KGVO News before the event and provided some background.

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“Three specific seventh graders that come to mind had an idea to start this club to raise money to build a well in the South Sudan,” said Principal Solberg. “Students could donate dollars, and we decorated the hallway with names of things that have been donated. They reached their $1,000 goal and we said beforehand that if we do, then we can do the Ice Bucket Challenge.”

Instructional Coach Joy Brooke said the idea came from a book called ‘Long Walk to Water’ by Linda Sue Park that provided a startling statistic that women in South Sudan had to walk a total of 50 million hours every year to carry fresh water to their homes and families.

Brooke said there were several fundraisers.

“During the month of December, they did the coin drive, and they raised about $822," said Brooke. It was school wide, and it was pretty incredible because it was a class competition with sixth, seventh and eighth, so the whole school was involved,” said Brooke. “This last opportunity was when they created little water paper droplets and every student could buy one for 50 cents. Mr. Solberg said the whole hallway was covered and it was like filling the bucket not only for the water for South Sudan, but also filling our bucket when you help people.”

One of the students who conducted the fundraiser was 7th grader Mairyn Agostinelli.

“I was really inspired by the book,” said Mairyn. “We read ‘A Long Walk to Water’ by Linda Sue Park, and there was a group last year that did it and I wanted to start it again this year. We did all the fundraising, and it was really awesome to watch the school come together. Then we reached our goal, and we thought it'd be a great way to celebrate by doing a fun challenge.”

Hence the ice water bucket shower witnessed by the entire school, and endured by a good-natured Principal Ty Solberg.

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