On February 10th, Colonia High School held a kickoff event, The Hypnotist show was the first fundraiser for Colonia High School’s new organization Make a Wish Wednesday; Created by the Interact Club and Mrs. Linda Brennan, Special Education teacher and adviser of the Interact Club.
Make a Wish Wednesday is an organization started to help teachers and students going through tough times. The kick off event was the Hypnotist performance done by Stephen Christopher. The Hypnotist show was a fundraiser to start off the Make a Wednesday Organization, raising approximately $2,500, at five dollars a ticket. The show had an audience of 500 students and staff members. Students had to get a signed permission slip from their fourth block teacher to attend.
The show consisted of a cast made up of sixteen CHS students and staff. All subjects were told to relax and let the hypnotizing happen. They were informed that if they fought it, they would not have fun and they would be asked to leave the stage. Of the sixteen cast members only one performer could not be hypnotized, Mr. Thomas Hennessy one of the school gym teachers.
The students were chosen out of the audience by Christopher himself. However, the teachers were chosen based on suggestions from students. Mrs. Brennan went around and asked students who they wanted to see on stage and she also asked specific teachers herself. She was happy to see that all teachers who were asked would happily volunteer.
Participants were hypnotized to dance like a puppet, pretend to go fishing, and play an imaginary instrument. After being entranced, Mr. Hutchinson said, “I was aware of what I was doing but couldn’t tell you why I was doing it and couldn’t completely stop myself from doing it either.”
The first recipient of Make a Wish Wednesday was Alim Memon. Memon is a junior at Colonia. He is on the school swim team and is involved in many clubs including: Interact Club, Ecology Club, Physics Club, Yo-Yo Club and the Percussion Club.
Mrs. Brennan feels that her favorite parts of the show were, watching everyone laugh. Just seeing how many people were laughing and enjoying the show, made her so happy!
“Laughter is the best medicine of all,” said Mrs. Brennan. Her second favorite part was when everyone stood up at the end of the show, after hearing where the money for the fundraiser would be going and gave Alim Memon a standing ovation. “To see the kids give Alim a standing ovation, it gave me goosebumps.”
Memon will be receiving a sports wheelchair, so he can continue in his efforts to tryout for the tennis team and a basketball team outside of the school.
The idea for the Hypnotist Show had come up after the fundraiser for the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society four years prior. Mrs. Brennan remembered all the fun the students and facility had that year and decided it would be a great way to raise money quickly while having a great time.
When Mrs. Brennan contacted Christopher, she informed him of what the show was gonna be in support of and where the money would go. Normally a show with Christopher would be ten dollars a ticket, and half the proceeds would go to him and his brand. After hearing what the Interact Club was doing with Make a Wish Wednesday, he came up with the decision that he would do the show for free. Therefore, making it only five dollars a ticket to attend the show.
On March 1st, Memon was being fitted for his new custom wheelchair. The wheelchair goes for about $1,700, with the $2,500 raised the Interact Club was able to purchase him the wheelchair. Memon was evaluated by Assistant Technology Professional, Gerg Kerins. Kerins also donated his time and efforts to Memon. Kerins will be coming back in about 2-3 weeks to put the pro-sport wheelchair together for Memon, free of charge.
