Connellsville Area High School

 (Kneeling- Charles Lowery, Finley,Tori Martucci, Mary Katherine Kline, in back- Jordan Yatsko, Andrew Sparks, Justin Teets)

 Last Friday, The family and I went to Connellsville High School to take a picture for the paper and drop off all the braille shirts I made to the teachers.

 The staff knew Finley would be coming, so on Thursday they made an announcement to wear your Finley's Fighters shirt.  And wear them they did!

 Everywhere we looked, we saw someone with a Finley's Fighters shirt on, or a wrist band.  People stopped us in the hall, and wanted to see Finley.

A lot of students couldn't get over how little she was.  I guess you forget how small 4 years old really is when you aren't around it all the time.  To us, she is so big!

 We gathered at 10:30 am for a picture with Student Council.  For those of you who don't know, Connellsville High does a chain link contest every year for Homecoming.  They donate all the money made do a charity of their choice, and the winning home room gets the "spirit stick".  (correct me if I am wrong at all here!).  The homerooms go all out.  This whole week they will be decorating the rooms and trying to win said spirit stick and have the most chain links.  My mom will take pictures and I will have them for the next blog.

 So - the donation this year is going to our new RDH12 Fund for Sight!  We are thrilled.  We cannot thank them enough for supporting us, and choosing our charity.  Finley is staying in Connellsville this whole week so that she can participate in all the activities that go along with Homecoming week.  More on that next week.

 For now - I want to share with you all the kids and adults who had their shirts on.  These are just the people we ran into during our limited time there.

 

( Jordan Yastko, Mary Kathryn Kline, Tori Martucci, Charles Lowery)

 

 We took the student council picture, and then Finley, my mom, my sister in law Tricia, and I stayed to walk around and say hello and pass out the shirts we had.  We had a blast!!  Finley was definitely a little celebrity there.  She was loving it.

 (Front- Charles Lowery, Cainan, E, Arlington,Tori Martucci, Mary Katherine Kline
2nd row- Jordan Yatsko
Back row: Aunt Tricia, Gramma Sally, Pappy Ben,  Andrew Sparks, Justin Teets, Mat, me, Grammy Phyllis, and Papa Ted.


So here are the pictures!

this is :  (above) Jenny Becker.  She teaches at the high school and has been a huge supporter of our family.

this is Becky Irwin.  She works in the high school office.  She is also one of our wonderful neighbors!

This is: Beth Shreeve.  Another great teacher and huge supporter of our family.  She is the National Honor Society sponsor who is organizing a NHS dinner for next month for Finley.

this is: Toni Diederich - another great teacher at the high school!

this is: Fran McLaughlin.  She has her own fight she is fighting, and is still a big supporter of our Finley.

this is:  Kirsten Shallenberger - one of the student teachers.  She was teaching Finley about accounting.  It was hilarious!  Finley was really into it!.

This is Marianne.  Do not ask me what Finley is doing in this picture!  Anyway - Marianne is fantastic.  She is a Physics teacher and she got a braille shirt that says "Physics Queen".  Love it!  She is also a fellow Disneyworld nut - thanks for all the tips Marianne!  And she let Finley draw endless lines on her chalk board.  She is awesome!

This is Kim.  Kim has macular degeneration.  She is losing her sight just like Finley.  She was showing Finley her enlarged computer monitor and CCTV.  It was so nice to meet her.  She and Finley are in this fight together!

This is: MK and Charles.  MK is the treasurer of Student Council and who originally emailed to ask if Finley's Fighters could be the charity.  Of course we were thrilled!

This is:  Jimmy Peperak.  He is the president of NHS.  My mom wanted me to also mention he is one of her wonderful piano students!  I am sure he is.  He even had his wristband on!  Finley was so shy around the kids at first.  She wasn't sure what to make of so many of them.

These girls are:  Ameesha Michens, Maddie Jaynes, Hunter Klingensmith, Jordan Yatsko.  Don't they look great?  They were on their way to lunch and stopped to say hello and pose with Finley.

We had such a fun time.  Again thank you to all the wonderful staff and students of Connellsville High School.  We are amazing by your support and humbled by your generosity.  Thanks for fighting so hard for our little girl!

And thank you to ALL of those who donated for VisionWalk this year and came and participated with us.  I cannot thank all of you enough!!!

"Together we can do so much" - Helen Keller

Please consider making us your annual charity.  Go to www.rdh12.org and donate to Finley!  And continue to visit our Finley's Fighters site HERE!

See you Saturday.