Metuchen High School is once again transforming its sprawling campus into a massive obstacle course for its second annual Proving Ground Team Building Challenge, which promises to be bigger and better than last year’s inaugural event.
Proceeds from the Aug. 18 mud run, featuring nearly 40 mentally and physically challenging stations designed to promote teamwork and leadership, will benefit The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, a tax-exempt nonprofit helping children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area.
More than 200 students are expected to participate in the mud run, which is unique among Central Jersey high schools as Metuchen is the only area high school to host such an event.
Sarah Jeney slides through the mud during last year’s event.
A leadership training speaker series, featuring community leaders, will be held throughout the 2018-19 academic year to augment the team building challenge.
Proving Ground participants will gather at the high school on the eve of the mud run for a pre-event meal and meeting, at which time they will receive a pep talk and final instructions before embarking upon the taxing obstacle course.
Student-athletes who participate in the event — either as a competitor or volunteer — will receive credit toward one team sports practice.
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 will vastly differ from that which competitors navigated last summer, with some elements of the inaugural event being brought back for a second run and several new obstacles being added, including a tire wall Metuchen High School junior Frederik Krebs has designed and constructed as part of his Eagle Scout project.
WATCH: Video highlights from Metuchen’s 2017 Proving Ground Team Building Challenge
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.
Liam Walker reaches for a rope during last year’s event.
“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 will be divided into teams of six to eight members — each with a captain — who must work 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 is designed with safety in mind and that the Metuchen Fire Department, Metuchen Police Department and Metuchen First Aid Squad will be 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)?”
READ: A story about Metuchen High School’s first annual Proving Ground Team Building Challenge
Metuchen Savings Bank, the Metuchen Education Foundation, the Metuchen Board of Education and Metuchen Senior Citizens, Inc. have provided financial support for building materials and other expenses as primary sponsors of the event.
Erin Hausser receives some help from her teammates as she navigates the “Tarzan Swing” during last year’s mud run.
Spectators will be allowed to follow participants as they compete on the obstacle course. Food and beverages will be available.
A silent auction, featuring more than a dozen items business and individuals inside and outside the borough donated, will also be held at the Aug. 18 event.
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.
Money raised through the sale of promotional items, including T-shirts and wristbands, and the silent auction will benefit The Marisa Tufaro Foundation. Last year’s event raised $1,000 for the foundation.
The foundation, established in memory of Marisa Tufaro, the daughter of Home News Tribune sports writer Greg Tufaro and Edison Township Public Schools educator Cyndi Tufaro, assists children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area.
Students compete as a team during the 2017 mud run.
A heart transplant, which was supposed to extend Marisa’s life, tragically cut it short after a postoperative complication developed into a rare form of cancer, to which she succumbed last year following a valiant battle. Marisa was 13 years old.
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.
PHOTOS: View a gallery of pictures from last year’s event
The Tufaros will address Metuchen students on the eve of the Proving Ground event, thanking the school-community for its involvement and providing what they hope will be an inspirational message.
Sophia Caposino, a rising senior and member of Metuchen’s reigning GMC field hockey championship team, demonstrates a new obstacle for this year’s event.
“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?”
WATCH: An aerial view of last year’s obstacle course
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.”
Cathcart, who can be reached at 732-321-8755 or via email at jacathcart@metboe.k12.nj.us, said sponsorship opportunities for the event are still available.
Those interested in volunteering to assist on the day of the mud run are asked to contact Audrey Hausser at ahausser@msn.com.
Following are some of the ways in which The Marisa Tufaro Foundation has made an impact on children in need:
- Partnered with Old Bridge and South Brunswick high schools to collect thousands of toys for pediatric patients at Saint Peter’s University Children’s Hospital and Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital.
- Funded the purchase of brand new metal bunk beds for campers at Kiddie Keep Well Camp, which serves more than 600 underserved Middlesex County children annually.
- Partnered with the Kittim N. Sherrod Foundation to provide a youth football and cheerleading organization with a bilingual state-of-the art automated external defibrillator, as well as AED and cardiopulmonary resuscitation training for adult members of the organization.
- Supported instruction and supplies for an art therapy program at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital, to which the foundation also provided funds for infant mobiles and toy cars staff use to transport children to the operating room for surgery.
- Provided money for equipment and supplies for students with disabilities who utilize the Lakeview School’s newly constructed aquatics center.
- Conducted a boardwalk-themed Family Fun Night at Children’s Specialized Hospital, where the sights, sounds and smells of the Jersey Shore were brought to patients and their families through carnival games, food, prizes, music and more.
- Partnered with Teamwork Unlimited Foundation to provide medical alert bracelets to children with autism and pediatric patients with chronic illness who receive outstanding care from Children’s Specialized Hospital, which annually serves more than 34,000 children statewide.
- Partially funded the Make-A-Wish of a Middlesex County boy who is winning a battle with high-risk neuroblastoma to vacation with his family at Walt Disney World.
- Provided physical therapy at Special Strides Therapeutic Riding Centerand Project Walk for Middlesex County children whose families do not have health insurance or whose families’ health insurer does not cover the cost of the physical therapy.
- Partnered with Edison High School and the Chamberlain College of Nursing to raise money and collect nonperishable food items to benefit Middlesex County children and their families through Hands of Hope via our foundation’s participation in the Race to Outrun Hunger.
- Provided new iPads and gaming system accessories (Xbox and PS4 games, controllers, chargers) for adolescent patients at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital.
- Assisted multiple families whose children are in medical crisis, providing financial support through the payment of medical and/or personal expenses to help lessen the burden of parents who have lost wages while spending time at the hospital.
- Provided summer art camp scholarships to Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum for Middlesex County elementary and middle school students.
- Rewarded high school students for their community service to children with scholarships.
- Provided meals and goods for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House of Central Jersey.
- Provided scholarships to Greater Middlesex Conference student-athletes.
- Partnered with Middlesex High School to conduct a coat drive for Middlesex County children.
- Provided gift cards for pediatric patients and their families.
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