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Students from Act II sing the national anthem during the Swine Week kickoff assembly.
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Cheerleaders, StuCo members and Assistant Principal Shastin Willman drumroll in front of the sophomores for the “Can you dig it?” tradition.
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One representative from each grade, including senior William Bajema, compete in a dunk contest.
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Swine Week chairs Karmen Wellington and Scout Killackey speak during the Swine Week kickoff assembly.
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Special Care Co-Founder Pam Newby expresses her gratitude to Nick Collison, Nick Gallo and everyone in the bleachers for their support.
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One of the Swine Week chairs, senior Scout Killackey, introduces Nick Gallo to the students.
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Nick Gallo, a reporter for the OKC Thunder, speaks to the students about Nick Collison’s time with the team.
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“Mr. Thunder” Nick Collison,offers to donate $1,000 for every shot made by students Madeline Kirk and Bode Lashley to the Swine Week recipient, Special Care.
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Senior Madeline Kirk contributes to the shot count, resulting in $20,000 being donated to Special Care.
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Junior Benjamin Kosanke asks two teams trivia questions about NBA history. The losing team had to drink a mystery smoothie.
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EMHS ends the Swine Week kickoff assembly with their long standing tradition: the Swag Surf.
Edmond Memorial High School held its first annual Swine Week Kickoff assembly on Feb. 6, featuring special guest speakers Nick Gallo and Nick Collison. Every Swine Week, Memorial chooses a charity to fundraise for through assemblies and events. This year’s recipient is Special Care.
Special Care is a non-profit organization based in Oklahoma City, whose mission is to serve children with and without special needs. Its goal is to create a safe, supportive environment through education, therapeutic services and community acceptance.
The Act II show choir kicked off the assembly by singing the national anthem. From there, it transitioned straight into the tradition of “Can you dig it?” allowing the audience to build up excitement for what was to come.
Before the featured speakers came out, there was a basketball dunking competition where one representative from each grade level was able to show off their dunking skills
Next, Swine Week chairs Scout Killackey and Karmen Wellington came out to introduce Special Care Co-Founder, Pam Newby. Newby gave a speech about Special Care’s purpose and how Swine Week will help them.
After Newby spoke, Killackey came back to introduce Nick Gallo. Gallo is the broadcast reporter and digital editor for the OKC Thunder. Gallo spoke about the OKC Thunder and Nick Collison’s achievements before Collison came out to speak.
Collison is the only OKC Thunder player whose jersey number has been retired, thanks to his loyalty to the team. He started his NBA career with the Seattle SuperSonics, which moved to OKC in 2008 and became known as the OKC Thunder, and stayed throughout his 15-year career. Collison spoke about his time with Special Care, as he has been a long-time supporter of the organization and volunteered for them since 2012.
After Collison’s speech, students Bode Lashley and Madeline Kirk played a game to see how many basketball shots they could make in 90 seconds. However, as a surprise, Collison pledged $1,000 per basket to Special Care. In the end, Collison donated the max of $20,000 to the organization.
After the featured speakers, there was one more game centered around OKC Thunder trivia. After that, it was time to close the assembly with the traditional Swag Surf. The new annual kickoff assembly reminded students what Swine Week is all about and prepared them to participate as much as possible when Swine Week eventually begins.
Contact Paisley Edgin at [email protected]
