Contributed photo
Ladies exit the 34-degree water following the Polar Plunge.
Students from ENC huddled together on a Wollaston Beach sidewalk on Feb. 25, as they waited for a group of girls to run into the 34-degree ocean water.
The Polar Plunge fundraiser earned more than $400, after weeks of raising money for Fusion spring break mission trips to Toronto, Ontario, Jackson, Miss., and the New York/New Jersey area.
During the fundraiser, people can place money in the ladies or men’s jar. The team that has more money in their jar when fundraising ends must plunge.
With more money in the ladies’ jar than in the men’s, the ladies had to plunge into the icy water for the second time in four years. The females plunged the first year of the Polar Plunge, but the guys decided to enter the water with them that year.
“We were all pretty good sports about it,” said sophomore Sondra Hazelton. “I was prepared to plunge. I was kind of excited because it’s been something I’ve wanted to say I’ve done.”
Rachel Yount, a student going on the Toronto trip, said, “It was like you got in the water, and you couldn’t feel your limbs … [but] I knew I had no choice, so I was like, ‘what’s the point of being scared?’”
Both girls mentioned that the water was numbing, and neither of them were feeling 100 percent better after plunging—Sondra felt “too warm,” and Rachel’s “bones ached” —but they both were willing to support a good cause.
The Office of Spiritual Development found a donor to match last year’s fundraising amount, and is still hopeful of finding a match this year. With $400 raised and a potential match, the Polar Plunge helped students fund the Fusion mission trips.