The inaugural Super Viking Palooza was held Friday at College View Middle School as a way to embrace their unique identity as a feeder school to both Daviess County and Apollo high schools. The funds raised ($8,319.22) will ultimately go toward those battling pediatric cancer. The CVMS event also honored the loss of a former student to cancer.
DanceBlue is the University of Kentucky’s pediatric cancer dance marathon, while RaiseRED is the University of Louisville’s version of the same thing. Apollo has done DanceBlue for years, and RaiseRED is going to be hosted by Daviess County High School this upcoming school year.
For the past six years, members of the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) at CVMS have hosted a version of DanceBlue. Inspired by the models used at Apollo and UK, any money raised from DanceBlue in years past has been donated to the Golden Matrix Fund at Kentucky Children’s Hospital to support pediatric cancer.
This year, funds will be split between the two high schools, so the money will ultimately be given to both the UofL and UK.
“We wanted to merge Dance Blue with Raise RED (benefiting Norton Children’s Cancer Institute) because both high schools will be sponsoring those events next year and our school is a feeder school for both high schools,” said NJHS co-sponsor Mendy Rue. “We want to instill the excitement and support for this cause into our students now so they will continue to be excited and support pediatric cancer as they go through high school.”
In addition to wanting to support both high schools and both medical programs, NJHS members and sponsors found they all had a personal connection to pediatric cancer.
“I lost a friend in middle school to cancer, and teacher Abby Vogt has a sister who has battled cancer,” Rue said. “To our kids, this is personal. We also wanted to honor a CVMS student who received cancer treatment from both hospitals.”
Last year, CVMS students and staff experienced the loss of Jackson Roark, a classmate and student who was an avid reader and superhero enthusiast. Jackson died in July 2021 after a nearly two-year battle with osteosarcoma. Using his passions as inspiration, the first annual Super Viking Palooza was created.
“Jackson was a CVMS classmate, friend and fellow member of NJHS — the ‘super’ part comes from him,” Rue said. “More than anything, I want the Roarks to know we are going to keep his spirit alive. A lot of the music in the event is stuff Jackson would like. He is the inspiration behind it.”
One of the events at the Super Viking Palooza was to make bookmarks that will be placed inside books that will be donated to Jack’s Stacks.
Jack’s Stacks is a fundraiser created by Jackson’s parents, Holly and David Roark, to share their son’s love of reading with other Daviess County Public Schools students by donating books to local schools in Jackson’s name. Daviess County Middle School is also conducting a Jack’s Stacks Book Drive.
To donate books to Jack’s Stacks, click here.
