The Marisa Tufaro Foundation would like to extend its sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to the entire Metuchen High School community, which has adopted our nonprofit each of the past three summers as the beneficiary of its annual Proving Ground Team Building Challenge.
Several student-athletes from the high school recently made a check presentation to our foundation’s leadership.
Last month, Metuchen High School transformed its sprawling campus into a massive obstacle course for a mud run featuring more than 50 mentally and physically challenging stations designed to promote teamwork and leadership.
More than 200 students participated in this year’s challenge, which is unique among Central Jersey high schools as Metuchen is the only area high school to host such an event.
A leadership training speaker series, featuring community leaders, will be held throughout the 2019-20 academic year to augment the team building challenge.
Proving Ground participants and their parents gathered at the Metuchen Municipal Pool on the eve of this year’s mud run for a pre-event meeting and meal, at which time students received a pep talk and final instructions before embarking upon the taxing obstacle course.
WATCH: Video highlights from this year’s event
Jersey Mike’s Subs of Metuchen provided food for the meeting and Big Movers provided refreshments.
Sponsors for the event included Metuchen Savings Bank (a division of Manasquan Bank), Metuchen Board of Education, Metuchen High School PTO, Metuchen High School Booster Club, Hronich & Company, Sherie Giampolo-Woody and Coldwell Banker Realty, The Hausser Family, John Gazda, Jersey Mike’s, Natural Green and Jan Margolis: Applied Research Corp. and Halecon.
A silent auction, which Audrey Hausser organized, featuring more than a dozen items business and individuals inside and outside the borough donated, was also held to benefit The Marisa Tufaro Foundation.
Specially designed T-shirts in the school’s official colors of blue and white bearing an inspirational message on the back that reads: “Do not aspire to be the best on the team, aspire to be the best for the team,” were also sold with proceeds donated to the nonprofit.
Student-athletes who participated in the event — either as a competitor or volunteer — received credit toward one team sports practice and for at least three community service hours.
Spectators were allowed to follow participants as they competed on the obstacle course. More than a dozen teachers, coaches and administrators from the high school supervised the event.
Metuchen athletics director John Cathcart and Metuchen certified athletics trainer Michelle McCorkle, who have both participated in mud runs, designed the obstacle course with the intent of promoting cooperation, innovative thinking and prudent risk-taking.
This year’s course vastly differed from that which competitors navigated in previous summers, with some elements of the last two events being brought back for a third run and several new obstacles being added.
“It’s grown so quickly,” Cathcart said about the event, “and it’s almost to the point now where I never thought it would get this big. So many people have gotten involved with this. I’m glad we did it and I’m glad it has continued and gotten bigger all the time.”
Cathcart and McCorkle watched videos, read literature and engaged in extensive conversation with others about the leadership and teamwork component of mud run challenges to customize a course that targets the needs of Metuchen students.
“The genesis of this event falls in line with what we want the kids to do,” McCorkle said. “They will confront obstacles and challenges they’ve never seen before and figure out how to solve problems. A lot of these obstacles are going to be more mentally intimidating than physically challenging. Some obstacles focus on strategy rather than strength. Any strength coach or trainer at the gym can make you work so hard you feel horrible. That’s not what we are after. We don’t want you to just be physically depleted. We want the teamwork, we want the strategy and we want the leadership. Sometimes you have to scale back on the physical exertion to let some of those things shine a little brighter.”
Competitors were divided into teams of eight to 10 members — each with a captain — who worked in concert to scale walls, navigate mud pits, jumps and other obstacles.
“If we are going to create teamwork and challenge them to overcome adversity, we are going to have to throw something at them that is outside of their comfort zone and makes them think and work together,” said Cathcart, noting each challenging obstacle was designed with safety in mind and that the Metuchen Fire Department, Metuchen Police Department and Metuchen First Aid Squad were on hand at the event.
“We want (the students) to work as a team so that they can overcome any obstacle. By themselves, they are not going to beat this course. If it’s too tough and you are going to stop, then what have you learned, where have you gotten and what are you going do with yourself (in the future)?”
Upon completing the obstacle course, participants received a commemorative medal, a keepsake to remind them that they worked together for a greater cause.
McCorkle, who called the high school and the borough a “family,” said she wants Metuchen’s participating students to learn about the importance of community involvement and giving back to the community.
Since its inception, the Proving Ground Team Building Challenge has raised more than $3,000 for The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, which was established two years ago in loving memory of its namesake.
Marisa, who would have been entering her junior year at Edison High School, was born with a complex cardiac defect that required six open-heart surgeries. Despite being hospitalized for more than two years and maintaining hundreds of doctor’s appointments, she lived a vibrant life that inspired. After her sixth surgery, Marisa developed two life-threatening conditions that necessitated a heart transplant. A postoperative complication developed into a rare form of cancer that riddled her brain and body. Marisa succumbed to her illness following a valiant battle on Jan. 30, 2017. She was just 13 years old.
Marisa is the daughter of Home News Tribune sports writer Greg Tufaro and Edison Township Public Schools educator Cyndi Tufaro, who addressed Metuchen students and their parents on the eve of the Proving Ground event, thanking the school-community for its involvement and providing what they hope was an inspirational message.
Marisa’s paternal grandparents, Joseph and Marie, are Metuchen High School graduates. In the weeks before Marisa received her heart transplant, she spent time with Metuchen principal Bruce Peragallo, who gave her a tour of the high school.
“The object is for (the event) to be a metaphor for life,” McCorkle said. “We want them to learn these lessons on the field and then parlay them into adulthood and retain what we’ve taught them. How can we take what we are offering and give back to the community? How can we involve the surrounding community and be a force for good outside of ourselves?”
The Proving Ground is considered a mud run, but Cathcart and McCorkle have emphasized to students that the event is not a race.
“You’re not trying to beat anybody but yourself,” Cathcart said. “We expect our kids to get out and be leaders. We’re creating a lifelong idea that you can overcome obstacles, either with a team, or by yourself.”