by Felicia De Innocentiis | Staff Writer

While they’re earning critical attention for achievement in recent tournaments, the varsity girls’ volleyball team recently took time to give back to the community; raising breast cancer awareness with their fundraiser, “Dig For the Cure.” The players prepared for this event for weeks in advance, and the fundraiser is set to end tomorrow.

“We sell t-shirts, so we had to have a t-shirt design, and the proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation,” volleyball coach Nicole Blakeman said.

T-shirts were one way to collect funds, although direct donations were also accepted prior the game.

“The girls take donations, per dig, for the game. We sometimes take flat donations before the game. Basically, it’s just to raise awareness of breast cancer, and everything will go to aid breast cancer research,” Blakeman said.

The event has gone so well in past years that even the opposing team from Uvalde joined in Johnson’s effort.

“[Uvalde] bought t-shirts also… it says at the bottom of our shirts that we are playing Uvalde,” Blakeman said.

The promotion for the “Dig” was incredibly effective, inspiring other schools in the district to perform their own, similar events.

“[Uvalde] was just contributing to ours… there are some other schools that do [The Dig for the Cure], but it is our annual thing. This is our third time to do it,” Blakeman said.

The final profit has not been recorded, although Blakeman has high expectations for a remarkable total.

“I’d say it was a success. We’re still taking in donations, we’re still selling shirts, so we don’t know what we’ve taken in at this time. We should know [by] mid-September how much money we can actually donate.”

Blakeman’s pride in the fundraiser reflects an overall pride in her varsity team.

“Honestly, our whole team [stands out]. We need everybody to perform. Everybody has their role, and every role is important.”