CatPRIDE sponsors 5th Quarter dodgeball
Juniors Ally Barnhart, Kaitlyn Bell and Krista Rush and senior Alexa Rosetta, members of “Watch Out for These Arms,” celebrate a victory in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Jan. 12.
The tournament had all come down to this: a 1-on-1 showdown. Final Countdown by Europe blasted over the loudspeakers. The tension in the diminishing crowd of less than a dozen was palpable as senior Max Garrett winded up and launched a dodgeball that slipped through the hands of freshman Tyson Priddy.
With that elimination, the all-senior team “Sit Down Boi” won the 11-team tournament and successfully concluded catPRIDE’s 5th Quarter event after the basketball games on Jan. 12. Senior Jack Barger was ecstatic after the win.
“I have to thank my family, all of my supporters out there and most importantly my teammates,” Barger said. “I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Started five years ago, 5th Quarter was created by catPRIDE as an opportunity for students to have a fun and constructive activity to participate in after football and basketball games.
“In the past, we’ve done other activities in addition to dodgeball. We’ve done a movie in the Black Box, we’ve done PlayStation games in the commons, but this year we really just wanted to keep it to one signature event,” said catPRIDE sponsor and school social worker Joe Kordalski.
CatPRIDE is an organization that advocates for positive decision-making for the students of De Soto High School. It does this through a wide variety of events during the year, including organizing 5th Quarter and advocating against driving distracted or under the influence.
“[I like catPRIDE] because it’s a really positive environment, and I make a lot of new friends,” said catPRIDE president junior Drayvhen Moore. “We have a couple of special projects coming up that you’ll see in the future.”
Moore and Kordalski both emphasized the inclusiveness of participating in catPRIDE and how easy it is to get involved with the club.
“You can come to one event and help us plan, or you can come to all of them,” Kordalski added. “There’s a lot of flexibility with students in other activities to then contribute to catPRIDE.”
As for the X factor in the tournament for the victors, Barger attributed the win to his workout regimen.
“Those lateral dumbbell lunges, those front squats, they weren’t for nothing,” Barger added.
Meet Sam Hubert. Sam has been a member of the Green Pride for 3 years and is excited to take the helm of the newspaper as an Editor-in-Chief this year....
