Last spring, three Westerville North student athletes, with support from Athletic Director, Wes Elifritz, came together to organize a charity event to raise money for the Westerville Education Foundation, also known as WEF. 

   Max Scholl and Nick Tener are members of the boys soccer team, while Jolie Helt is a member of the girls soccer team, so the three were able to make this fundraiser a competition between the two teams.

   Scholl is one of the captains on the boys soccer team this season.

   “We started planning all the way back at the end of last school year, and the project changed a ton as things progressed, especially with coronavirus,” Scholl said.

   Helt is an outside back for the girls soccer team.

   “It was really hard to get together and organize [the fundraiser], so a lot of times we met over call,” Helt said on how COVID-19 effected them creating this fundraiser.

   The three decided on raising money for WEF, after some last minute changes to their plan. They set a goal to raise $500 at a home double-header, where the girls would play their game, and the boys game

would follow.

   “We just wanted to raise some money to give back to the community,” Scholl said. 

   “It’s our community, and it’s given us so much,” he added.

   That night they exceeded their goal and raised over $530 for WEF. The WEF provides grants for some applicants  in Westerville, so they knew that money would ultimately be going back into their community for a good cause. 

   Elifritz assisted the three student athletes in planning and organizing their fundraiser.

   “For these three to just step up and say they wanted to do something, just on their own, just shows the type of character they have,” Elifritz commented on Scholl, Tener, and Helt. 

   Tener is also a captain for the boys soccer team along with Scholl.

   “We plan on continuing [the fundraiser] next year and then picking new people once we leave to continue it on,” Tener said.

   The boys won the competition by raising more money, resulting in five of the girls getting pied in the face. 

   Elifritz says these students bring a “bigger than yourself” attitude to the table and are really stepping up by contributing to their community.